Shades of Blue | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | Adi Hasak |
Based on | Shades of Blue: 30 Years of (Un)ethical Policing by Michael Rudolph |
Starring | |
Composers | Wendy Melvoin Lisa Coleman |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 36 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers | Priscilla Porianda David DeClerque |
Production locations | New York City, US |
Cinematography | Stefan Czapsky |
Editors | Aaron Yanes Joel Goodman Elba Sanchez-Short |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 42 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | January 7, 2016 – August 19, 2018 |
Shades of Blue is an American crime drama television series created by Adi Hasak that premiered on NBC on January 7, 2016. The series is set in New York City and stars Jennifer Lopez as Harlee Santos, a single-mother NYPD Detective who is forced to work for the FBI's Anti-Corruption Task Force, while dealing with her own financial and family problems.
The series is loosely based on the novel Shades of Blue: 30 Years of (Un)ethical Policing by Michael Rudolph.
In March 2017, the series was renewed for a third season. NBC later announced in April 2018 that this would be the final season, and that it would consist of 10 episodes. The third and final season premiered on June 17, 2018, and the series finale aired on August 19, 2018.
In February 2014, NBC gave a 13-episode straight-to-series order. [10] A teaser trailer was made available on June 3, 2015, containing statements by Lopez, Ray Liotta, and Drea de Matteo. [11] The series premiered on January 7, 2016. [12] On February 5, 2016, NBC renewed Shades of Blue for a 13-episode second season, which premiered on March 5, 2017. [13] [14] [15] On March 17, 2017, the series was renewed for a third season. [16] [17] NBC later announced on April 4, 2018, that this would be the final season, and it would contain 10 episodes. [18] [19] The third season premiered on June 17, 2018.
Lopez was given the main role in 2014. [20] On February 26, 2015, Liotta, de Matteo, Vincent Laresca and Warren Kole were cast as Lt. Matt Wozniak, Det. Shirley Nazario, Det. Tony Espada and Agent Robert Stahl, respectively. Dayo Okeniyi was given the role of Det. Michael Loman. [21] On March 30, 2015, Hampton Fluker was cast in a recurring role as Det. Marcus Tufo. [6] On April 8, Sarah Jeffery was cast as Santos' daughter, Christina. [7] On April 13, 2015, Gino Anthony Pesi was cast in a recurring role as Assistant District Attorney James Nava. [22] On June 15, 2016, Anna Gunn joined Shades of Blue's second season in a recurring role. [23] [24]
Filming for the first season began on June 5, 2015,[ citation needed ] for the second season in July 2016, [25] and for the third season in April 2017. [26]
All filming took place in New York City.
Character Harlee Santos is an NYPD detective who is a single mother. She is corrupt, taking bribes and protection money so that she can provide for her daughter. [27] When confronted, she is forced by the FBI to go undercover and investigate her own squad. In their book, Reel Latinxs: Representation in U.S. Film and TV, academics Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González suggest that Santos is depicted as duplicitous and traitorous. They argue that the show follows a Latina-as-mamá stereotype. [28] Conversely, Willa Paskin, writing for Slate magazine, argues that Santos is presented too sympathetically and generously: she is "down-to-earth and competent, flipping from flirtatious to distressed, maternal to infuriated." [29]
Season | Time slot (ET/PT) | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Viewers (in millions) | Date | Viewers (in millions) | ||||||
1 | Thursday 10:00 pm | 13 | January 7, 2016 | 8.55 [30] | March 31, 2016 | 5.43 [31] | 2015–16 | #35 | 9.87 [32] |
2 | Sunday 10:00 pm | 13 | March 5, 2017 | 5.25 [33] | May 21, 2017 | 4.10 [34] | 2016–17 | #58 | 6.74 [35] |
3 | 10 | June 17, 2018 | 3.52 [36] | August 19, 2018 | 3.21 [37] | 2017–18 | |||
The show has received mixed reviews despite praise for Lopez's performance. On Metacritic, Shades of Blue has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 28 critics. [38] On Rotten Tomatoes, the show is rated 57% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's consensus reads "Solid performances by Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta fail to lift Shades of Blue above the ranks of the pedestrian network procedural". [39]
Writing for USA Today , Robert Bianco gave the series two stars out of four, calling it "a thoroughly ordinary reworking of pretty much every crooked cop show and movie you've ever seen". [40] Slate reviewer Willa Paskin criticized the show as "moderately terrible", though praised Lopez's performance as "hugely appealing" and called her "the show's one reliable pleasure". [41] In a more positive review, Yahoo!'s Ken Tucker called Lopez's work "solid" and felt the series was "perhaps the best dramatic work she's done since her first-rate film, Out of Sight ". [42] Molly Eichel from The A.V. Club gave the series a C+ rating, saying that "While the plot starts out cut and dried, it becomes more twisty and turny in a way that will eventually bring the audience back to the opening scene of a makeup-less, de-glammed Santos confessing her sins into a camera". [43] Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture wrote that "Shades of Blue isn't a deep show, but it's a sensationally effective one. It knows what it is (a compacted, melodramatic, commercial TV-friendly gloss on one of those '70s and '80s Sidney Lumet police-corruption thrillers) and it rarely steps wrong." [44]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actress – Television | Jennifer Lopez | Nominated | [45] |
Best Primetime Television Program – Drama | Shades of Blue | Nominated | |||
Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Actress: Drama | Jennifer Lopez | Nominated | [46] | |
Choice TV Drama | Shades of Blue | Nominated | |||
2017 | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actress – Television | Jennifer Lopez | Nominated | [47] |
Best Primetime Television Program – Drama | Shades of Blue | Nominated | |||
Nigeria Entertainment Awards | Lead Role (Diaspora TV) | Dayo Okeniyi | Nominated | [48] | |
People's Choice Award | Best Crime Drama Actress | Jennifer Lopez | Won | [49] | |
2018 | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actress – Television | Jennifer Lopez | Nominated | [50] |
Best Primetime Television Program – Drama | Shades of Blue | Nominated |
In India, Shades of Blue premiered on Colors Infinity on January 8, 2016, and aired shortly after its U.S. counterpart. [51] In Canada, Shades aired on Global, at the same time and day as it aired on NBC. In the Netherlands, Shades was aired on Wednesdays on Fox. In Latin America, the series premiered on April 7, 2016 on Universal Channel. In Australia, it premiered on the Universal Channel on August 2, 2016. [52] In the United Kingdom, Shades of Blue premiered on Sky Living on July 13, 2016. [53] In Italy, it premiered on pay-platform Mediaset Premium on September 22, 2016 [54] and then aired as a free broadcast on Canale 5 from July 5, 2017. [55] In Bulgaria, the series premiered on October 3, 2016, on Fox Crime. [56] In Germany, it premiered on RTL on October 18, 2016. [57] In France, it premiered on March 13, 2017 on France 2. [58] In Greece, the series premiered on September 3, 2018, on Makedonia TV. [59]
In the United States, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the first season on DVD in May 2016, and this is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, exclusively through Amazon.com.
The first season was first came out on Blu-ray in Germany, spreading into three discs.
In the UK, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released all three seasons of the series on DVD.
In Australia, Via Vision Entertainment released all three seasons on DVD.
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