JLo Talks 'Shades of Blue': 'I Didn't Really Think About Ever Doing TV Again'

Looks like Jennifer Lopez is packing some heavy dramatic firepower in NBC’s new cop drama, Shades of Blue. Set to premiere on Jan. 7, Shades will be Lopez’s first primetime series since 1994′s Hotel Malibu. And she’s coming back to television with a juicy role: NYPD detective Harlee Santos, who isn’t the kind of true blue hero Lopez has played in the past. Just watch the opening moments of the clip above, in which Harlee helps her partner cover up what would otherwise be a career-ending shooting. “It’s about shades of what’s right and wrong,” Lopez explains in the video, later adding, “[Harlee] is not the typical heroine. She’s human, and I understand her struggle.”

Harlee’s struggle only gets more intense when she’s scooped up by the Feds, who enlist her cooperation in an anti-corruption investigation. That means potentially selling out her cop family, headed up by Goodfellas star Ray Liotta, who knows a thing or two about playing character who operate on both sides of that thin blue line. Color us excited at the prospect of watching Lopez and Liotta go head-to-head.

Shades of Blue premieres Jan. 7 at 10 p.m. on NBC