Shades of Blue

It is hardly as revolutionary as ABC's extraordinary American Crime, which upends the crime-show genre entirely. But the terrific writing and wonderful performances in Shades make it one of the year's most promising new dramas.

Yes, this is "The Shield," with more gloss and less shock, and the story starts to strain as Harlee's FBI handler Warren Kole (Robert Stahl) shows an unhealthy interest in his undercover agent and the series worryingly starts to veer into "Enough"/"The Boy Next Door" territory. But the increasingly fraught dance between Harlee and Wozniak is absorbing and even occasionally nail-biting, and certainly reason enough to give Shades a shot.

Get past the tough-to-buy setup of the premiere, and Shades improves. The star? Initially tough to buy, too, but also improves.

The worse things get--and they get very bad--Lopez gets much better, withdrawing into herself, growing ever more still, as her character must spin lie after lie to stay ahead, to stay alive. Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson directed the first two episodes, and they are unusually taut. De Matteo makes a welcome return to series TV, but her character’s escalating marital woes seem a distraction.

Shades is not stellar--it’s a little over the top in playing up the conflict--it has some grit to it. If anything, it’s kind of fun seeing Lopez kick some butt and take no prisoners.

There’s little doubt that Shades of Blue would not stand out from the other TV cop shows were it not for Lopez. She’s so good, you can’t help wishing someone would write her a better show.

You begin to accept, even adore, these wooden aspects of the show as a litany of twists begin entering at whiplash pace.... [Lopez] and the rest of the show’s creative team make you care about what happens to Harlee while still making you feel like she’s in real danger.

Shades of Blue certainly isn’t shy about hauling out some of the tropiest tropes about cops who find themselves wearing a wire. Still, there’s something compelling and worth watching here--mainly Lopez’s enthusiastic and determined performance. Liotta also has a lot left to give.

It has the occasional police chase, shooting and so on, because even dirty cops have to enforce the law now and again. But it’s about gray-area choices, not about catching perps. Ms. Lopez and Mr. Liotta pair well, and the early episodes certainly have a pulse. The key will be how long the conceit holds up.

Sometimes it slips into episodic trappings inherent in most cop shows, but it mostly sticks to the mission at hand as it slowly unravels its leading lady.

The ensemble cast outshines the material, especially with Liotta, Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos), and Vincent Laresca (Graceland) playing Lopez’s buddies in blue.

Created by Adi Hasak, with the first two episodes directed by Barry Levinson (whose previous NBC cop show, "Homicide," helped inspire the likes of "The Wire" and "The Shield"), is competent but uninspired, and often more concerned with flattering its glamorous star than telling the best possible version of this story.