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Ray Liotta’s Shades of Blue

From Bad Lieutenant to Training Day, corrupt-cop police dramas hold an enduring allure. Shades of Blue adapts the genre to the hour-long network drama with a yarn centered on a rogue NYPD unit operating in Brooklyn’s 64th precinct. Like the infamous Rampart division cops of the LAPD, the agents led by Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta), have a very personal take on the idea of justice. Wozniak’s main protégée is detective Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez), a single mother who is caught up in the web of deceit until she is literally caught up – in the FBI’s anti-corruption dragnet – and turned informant. The premise sets up a taut storyline involving crossed allegiances, treason and suspicion. Golden Globe nominee Lopez (Selena, 1998) has gotten rave reviews for her role and joins Eva Longoria (Telenovela) and America Ferrera (Superstore) in the current batch of acting/producing “power Latinas”. As for veteran (and Globe-nominated) movie cop Ray Liotta, he chews the scenery in a role as juicy as it is fearsome. We asked him about it.