Shades of Blue

One of the people reviewing on the board thought this was an original idea. She never saw The Shield, I guess.

Like Shades of Blue, The Shield was about a group of crooked cops, led by Michael Chiklis. Here, it's Ray Liotta as Matt Wozniak, working with a group made up of Harlee (J. Lo), Tess (Drea DeMatteo), Michael (Dayo Okenyi), Marcus (Hampton Fluker) and others.

Harlee is a single mother with a daughter (Cristina Santos). She is having some financial problems. She is approached by the FBI in the person of Robert Stahl (Warren Kole). She can cooperate and help them get Wozniak or she can go to prison given what they have on her. She reluctantly cooperates, but Wozniak is so paranoid and nervous, she has to be extra-careful. Plus she is torn because of her loyalty to Wozniak.

This isn't a bad show. I think people are hard on Jennifer Lopez and here's why: She's a high-profile celebrity who has a lot written about her personal life, she shows up to awards shows in some flimsy fashions, and she's a singer and dancer. When people look at her, they see Jennifer Lopez, diva.

None of that means that she can't act. I thought she was wonderful as Selena, and she's good in this.

The problem with the show is that because it's Jennifer Lopez, we constantly see her taking off her clothes, working out at the gym, having sex, showing cleavage and then being a tough-as-nails cop, all the while with perfect hair and make-up. And did I mention she's 46 years old. Also, all the guys want her. It's too much, and as a result, the show is criticized.

Lopez needs to lose herself in this role a little more and be a female cop and less dishy - a little less makeup, some unstyled hair, a few less love scenes and a few less times she strips down should do it. She would still be beautiful but a little more human. Then I think people might be more receptive.

The rest of the cast is very good -- Ray Liotta is terrific - he looks and is terrifying; Drea DeMatteo from "The Sopranos" is very believable as a policewoman with personal problems; Warren Kole seems young for his job but he's okay. A good cast has been assembled.

There's nothing wrong with being a derivative show - most shows are. For what it is, it's dark and pretty good.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

SEASON ONE

Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mom and a member of a police department that consistently pushes the boundaries in order to get the job done. She has a close relationship with the head of the team, Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta), who helped her put away her abusive partner many years ago. But their luck finally runs out when Harlee is caught in a sting, and is forced by the veritable Agent Cole (Robert Stahl) to turn informant on the group in order to stay in daughter Christina's life. It is a situation that comes to have far reaching and shattering consequences she couldn't have imagined.

This, the latest in what seems to be a production line of American 'cop shows', has a curious pairing in the shape of Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta. Respectively, they're two performers whose work I've always had a curious eye for, even if it's pretty low rent, far more in the case of Liotta than Lopez, whose music was probably more of a draw for me. Nevertheless, each star individually is in a position at the moment where their films don't attract much attention anymore, and so a TV show was probably the best option for both of them. That said, that's not to say putting them together will result in the best chemistry, and Shades of Blue certainly boils down to nothing more in the end than an average cop show.

It's a shame I don't watch more TV shows in general (even less excusable with all the 'box set' offers thrown into bundle packages these days!) and that there were no stars I was familiar with that could have drawn me to watch other modern, but more established shows like The Wire and The Shield, which this has drawn comparisons with. Nonetheless, that still doesn't mean I'm any less knowledgeable with the clichés, which this thirteen part show goes through the motions with, and tests your patience with over the same number of weeks.

A little more of a mature wine now, Lopez fits into the lead role and fills it out with a bit more presence than she might have ten/fifteen years ago, but that still doesn't mean she's the best actress, and she just doesn't have the chops to really engage you in such a commitment. Liotta simply deserves better, doing his best with the material at hand, and no less of an effective, slick presence in his role, but ultimately just the ringmaster of a disaffected circus.

It tries hard and aims high, and certainly tries to weave some ambitious ideas into a multi layered story, but there's just not enough to distract us from the fact there's really nothing to see here that hasn't been done before, and better, elsewhere. **

SEASON TWO

After her brutal take-down of her abusive ex at the end of the last series, Harlee Santos now has the mother of all dirty secrets to keep from her colleagues and her nearest and dearest. Meanwhile, she and her captain Wozniak find themselves running afoul of feared local gangster Bianci (Richie Costa) during a bust in a restaurant, which leads to a string of busts and retribution from there. Wozniak also finds himself in dead lumber with his city councillor friend Julia (Anna Gunn), who is running for mayor, but has a few stings of her own up her sleeve. All the while, Harlee continues to be controlled by the devious IA agent Stahl, who is cooking up a deadly master plan.

It's always the way that in the first series, a show is always trying to find its feet, and establish its set up and characters, without having that solid foundation to really be truly satisfying in its own right. This has been more so the case with other shows than SOB, not to say it isn't that way at all, just the first series had already magnetised that raw edge that comes to define this series. This part is going somewhere much darker and seedier than the previous series, really trying to seize that dynamic edge that typifies American cop shows, with a bare minimum of humour and a gritty, no holds barred approach that hits that much harder this time.

The first series obviously proved successful enough to warrant this series' existence, and conversely, lead stars Liotta and Lopez this time round fit the skin of their characters that much better, and really make the roles their own. It's as though they've decided rather than slide back into the obscurity their careers were in, they'll own this new good thing they've got going for them, and are all the more satisfying for it. Some solid support players from the last series are back, along with some compelling new ones, and all in all, a sprightly melting pot is created that makes it much more interesting than the first one.

Yes, the clichés are still in effect, as well as some clunky dialogue that feels terribly forced and unconvincing coming from even the most talented mouth. But second time round, it has to be said this series has taken a commendable turn for the better. ***

SEASON THREE

A deadly shoot-out at an all night diner once again lights the match for Detective Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez), who has managed to escape from the clutches of the demented Agent Robert Stahl (Warren Kole) under whose shadow she now lives a worried existence. As the head of the department, Detective Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta) must once again guide his morally dubious unit through a minefield as the fallout from the diner shooting plays out, plunging him and his crew into a deadly and intricate web of deceit and deception, as they come up against the 'Blue wall' of police corruption, and fall at the mercy of the corrupt Captain Ramsey (Bruce McGill.)

For this third and final (three is the magic number, as De La Soul once wisely noted) series of this US cop drama, the writers seem to have taken a bit of inspiration from L.A. Confidential, one of the best police dramas of all time. With the characters now firmly established, we're now left with not entirely honourable people to root for (who behave sometimes downright despicably!) It seems a smart move to wrap it all up now, rather than let it drag on like many US series do, but whether this is down to wisdom on the producers part, or just lower ratings, is unknown.

It's as pleasingly intricate and elaborate as ever, requiring your full attention to take in all the twists and turns, but it could do with taking a breather, and maybe coming up for some air, with seemingly every scene delivered in an overly dramatic manner, with the actors performing even the slightest development in the script in the most theatrical way imaginable. Most of the dialogue fails to slip off the tongue in the most convincing way, either, none of it making you believe its how people like this would talk.

All the converging subplots and characters have to tie together to make the ending a suitable resolution to it all, but while it has some good points, even that has some silly touches that spoil the tone of what it gets right. This has been an inspired and ambitious series, but one of varying hits and misses, that altogether allow it to not entirely be the sum of its parts. ***

Just like reality where solutions to real life situations aren't black or white but fall somewhere as a shade of gray, so these cops must deal with the situations falling between strictly by the book and the right ethical thing to do. No one's perfect and so these cops deal.

"Shades of Blue" is a police drama featuring a vice squad. The story line is presented from a different point of view and I find that very refreshing. The weekly crimes they investigate are more of the subplot while their everyday hassles are the main story. Ray, I doubt you will ever see this but I must give credit where credit is due. I've seen many of your roles over the years and can't name a single one. Never seen you in a memorable role. My wife and I just finished binge watching first five episodes of "Shades of Blue".

FREAKING AWESOME ! You absolutely nail the role of Matt Woz! My wife and I love it. Hope the show is around for a long time. Good Job dude.

As momma always said,... when you tell the truth you can always repeat the same story since you don't have to remember any of the lies you may have otherwise told. In Shades of Blue you have an entire team of a police division involved in police corruption. The two lead characters on this corrupt police team are Harlee Santos played by super star Jennifer Lopez and Detective Matt Wozniak, played by Ray Liotta. Harlee plays a veteran cop who is also a single mom raising her 16 year old daughter. Her daughter Cristina Santos (played by Sarah Jeffery) who is a cellist prodigy requires a substantial financial contribution to enrol in a private school for music prodigies. This is the main reason that mom and police woman Harlee Santos is part of a corrupt team of police officers. The team leader is Detective Matt Wozniak, played superbly by the legendary crime genre star Ray Liotta. Ray Liotta is one of my guaranteed good performance actors. Just think of the starring role he had in the crime films Goodfellas, Identity, Cop Land and/or Narc which were all good performances by Ray.

With only the first episode televised at the time of my review it is a tad bit early to tell how the main characters roles will evolve, and if the television series writers will lean more in developing the main characters in the direction of a television crime series like The Shield, or more in mind with the strategic crime series and multiple Emmy winning series The Wire.

I will say though the director of the pilot series is the seasoned director and producer Barry Levinson who has ensured we understand that Harlee Santos is a very busy cop and mom. Within the first 60 minutes in no particular order, we witness Harlee run down and handcuff single handedly a very quick and agile street thug, set up an alibi for a rookie cop who kills a low life drug dealer without thinking first, deliberately smash her daughters car up to back up an alibi she created (remember what momma said about lies versus telling the truth?) earlier with Detective Matt Wozniak, gets caught by the FBI trying to take a bribe form a bookie (who is an FBI agent) and Harlee still finds time to work out in a boxing gym both in and out of the ring with her boy toy (no surprise here) trainer boyfriend. Whewww, Harlee accomplished all that in less than 60 minutes.

So now we see we have a team of corrupt cops trying to do their job of protecting the good citizens of New York City and at the same time make a few bucks off the backs of the bad guys by skimming a little kick back in protection money. We have the FBI closing in on this team of corrupt cops who are now under surveillance, and we have the corrupt team leader Matt Wozniak trying to figure out who the snitch is in his own unit before the FBI can close in on them all and break up this happy little family of close knit corrupt cops.

There is a lot going on in Shades Of Blue and I remain optimistic with this stellar cast of Grade 1 movie and television stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Ray Liotta, Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos), Warren Kole and Lolita Davidovich the series will have a strong first season performance. Mrs Shullivan and I were impressed with the pilot episode. So far I will give the series a positive 9 out of 10 rating for the stellar cast, and the excellent directing and cinematography of the series pilot.

Jennifer Lopez is really donning the moniker "Jenny from the Block". Her acting works have gained mixed reception and Shades of Blue will continue that tradition. The leading actors give a presentable performance and the drama appears to be in working shape, however some of the police works are following frigid formula of crime drama, not to mention a couple of angles are shady and unconvincing.

Female leads in cop series admittedly look like models, for example leads of Castle or Quantico, which is not entirely a bad and might even be appealing, but it doesn't enhance the reliability aspect of the series. What Jennifer brings is the occasional moments where her character is approachable. At these times she can shed the celebrity persona and delves into the character, although there's still inconsistency in this regard.

Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mother and corrupt cop who is also being chased by FBI. The character can be appealing as the movie plays out the family and camaraderie cards, but it often transitions into intentionally excessively independent woman stereotype or simply become too melodramatic. Fortunately, the supporting cast helps alleviate these few sloppy instances.

Ray Liotta as Wozniak, the patriarch in the police squad, this is a role he's comfortable with. He plays the crude mentor and protector who harbor secret vices presentably well. Warren Kole as Stahl, the FBI agent is charming in creepy kind of way. There's a solid foundation for character development here, although it's not without a lingering inkling that these are crime drama clichés. Furthermore, this translates into some of the police works that just look too outlandishly crafted.

The premise holds together sufficiently, "Shades of Blue" has a decent start and relatively suspenseful set-up. If it follows these core directions instead of trails from other shows, it should find some degree of success.