Shades of Blue Due But No Yellowstone

The Jennifer Lopez policewoman drama Shades of Blue debuts next week on Sky 5 fours years after it launched in the US.

The show ran for three seasons and will screen 9.30 Wednesdays from January 8.

It’s not clear why Shades of Blue has taken so long to land here but, like The Gifted and Doom Patrol, appears to be one of those series that slips through the distribution cracks.

Another show still missing in action is the Kevin Costner ranching drama, Yellowstone, season three of which will go to air in mid-2020 in the US.

Despite being one of the Paramount Network’s most popular shows, it still doesn’t appear to have been offered to broadcasters here. In Australia, it’s been streaming on Stan since November, so hopefully it will soon pop up on TVNZ OnDemand or Neon/Lightbox (Netflix is unlikely).

Meanwhile, Shades of Blue stars Lopez as one of a tight-knit group of dirty cops in New York, taking bribes and protection money that she uses to provide the best life for her daughter — until she’s trapped by the FBI and forced to inform on her own ‘brothers’.

“Created by Adi Hasak (Generation Kill), with the first two episodes directed by Barry Levinson, Shades of Blue — a title, frankly, that sounds as derivative as the show feels — is handsome, polished and occasionally twisty, from the gritty, tension-filled situations associated with undercover work to the first-rate cast,” said Variety.

The Hollywood Reporter was less impressed: “The new series is a reminder of what a strong screen presence Lopez has really always been … The downside is that Shades of Blue is, as a whole, not a very good show. Still, it’s at least a bad show in a way that’s compatible with a lot of Lopez’s bad movies, so it should satisfy its intended audience.”