Jennifer Lopez sees 'Shades of Blue' in new NBC police drama
Jennifer Lopez and television certainly won't be strangers as 2016 starts.
The hugely popular singer-actress returns to judge the final season of “American Idol” starting Wednesday, Jan. 6, but she's also tackling her first dramatic series as the star. Premiering at 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, NBC's “Shades of Blue” — on which she's also an executive producer — casts her as Harlee Santos, a single mother and Brooklyn police detective torn by her new role as an FBI informant on her colleagues, including her unit's maverick lieutenant (Ray Liotta).
Initially, Lopez only was going to produce “Shades of Blue,” and the former “In Living Color” Fly Girl admits “coming back to series work was a big decision for me. I knew how taxing it was, physically and emotionally, and just with the hours ... and being the lead in a show and being in almost every scene, how intense that can be. But the material was so strong, and this character was so compelling, it was hard to turn down.
“It's very difficult at times to play,” adds Lopez, “because she is living a double life, even a triple or quadruple life sometimes, with her daughter and her work and the FBI. There's just so much that she's juggling, wanting to keep everything afloat and make it all right in every way. It's really exciting. And scary.”
Lopez believes her roles in such movies as “Money Train,” “Out of Sight” and “Angel Eyes” helped prepare her for “Shades of Blue.” She reflects: “There's something that I understand about (law enforcement) in a way. Maybe it's the tough-with-a-soft-heart Bronxville thing, but there's something in it that I connect to. And there's something about the humanity of these characters; they're good people, and I think that's what the series is about. It's not something I planned on (acting in), but it was enticing.”
So was the production team assembled for “Shades of Blue,” which includes Lopez's “Idol” comrade Ryan Seacrest and Oscar winner Barry Levinson (“Rain Man”), who directed the series opener.
“When we got in a room together and had similar instincts about things, I was so excited,” Lopez says of Levinson. “We really tried to get it down to what the essence of the series was, so we were never off-track for one moment. It's an honor for me to work with Barry. We have a great chemistry, and I think it shows.”
Scheduling has been tricky for Lopez in balancing her “Shades” and “Idol” duties, since the talent competition starts taping the audition episodes months before they air. She says the shows' staffs agreed “to work together, and they did, but it was still the most taxing on me. But we've made it through. (2015) was just a year where all these amazing opportunities came my way (also including hosting ABC's American Music Awards), and as a performer and an actress, it was hard to say ‘No.' It's what I've worked my whole life for.”
An upcoming concert residency at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood also is keeping Lopez active, as is another series, though she doesn't appear in it. She's an executive producer of ABC Family's “The Fosters,” which resumes Season 3 episodes Jan. 25 after the network changes its name to Freeform.
That show already has a Season 4 renewal, and Lopez calls it “one of the things I'm most proud of, when you do a project and it turns out the way you'd hoped. It pushes the envelope, it educates in a way, and it makes you think and rethink. It came from the right place, and it's what TV should be.”
Jennifer Lopez stars in the drama series ``Shades of Blue,'' premiering Thursday on NBC.
Ray Liotta and Jennifer Lopez star in the drama series ``Shades of Blue,'' premiering Thursday on NBC.