Few Hollywood love affairs have lasted as long as the 57-year romance between TV and the Kennedys. Gorgeous and composed, John F. Kennedy was as telegenic as politicos get—and there’s no doubt that the first televised presidential debate clinched his win over rumpled, ruffled Richard Nixon in 1960.
OWN’s flagship series, Greenleaf—a glamorous, sin-packed melodrama about a black megachurch in Memphis—ended its premiere season with family pedophile Uncle Mac (Greg Alan Williams) getting out of jail by incriminating his revered brother-in-law, Bishop Greenleaf (Keith David), for arson and manslaughter. Now the dominoes fall.
Oh, snap! Yep, that’s exactly what New York City cop Harlee Santos did to her baby daddy’s neck in last spring’s shocking season finale of Shades of Blue. He was a brute, an abuser, a total psycho—and he definitely had it coming. But no way can she ever confess to killing him. When the hit NBC thriller returns this week, only a few moments have passed since the slaying, but Harlee (played by superstar Jennifer Lopez) is already in survival mode. Where will she stash the corpse? How will she keep her daughter from finding out? Things will take an even darker turn when Harlee buries the body in the dead of night—but not before jumping down into the grave, straddling the cadaver and smashing out the teeth with a hammer and chisel to prevent identification. Clearly, Harlee has balls to spare. Lopez? Not so much.
“I felt sick when I first read that burial scene,” Lopez admits. “All I could think was, ‘I can’t do this! How can I possibly go there?’ But that’s the difference between Harlee and me. My life is crazy. Her life’s insane. And she will do what it takes to make it through another day.”
Viewers knew Harlee was a dirty cop from the first scene of the first episode, when rookie detective Michael Loman (Dayo Okeniyi) accidentally killed an unarmed perp during a drug raid and she taught him how to cover up the crime. Harlee is also not above planting evidence or pocketing payola. But here’s the dicey conceit of the series: She’s no villain. Harlee is actually a warm, caring woman who does all this to give her kid, Cristina (Sarah Jeffery), a better life. And she has the full backup of her even more crooked boss and mentor, Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta), who loves Cristina as if she’s his own child.
Read Michael Logan’s full story (including the five best cop shows ever on TV) on newsstands now!
Also in this issue:
• Bull: TV Guide goes on set of the CBS drama starring Michael Weatherly, everywhere from the courtrooms to the designated punching bag area and the leisure spot known as the “Pod Room”.
• When We Rise: ABC revives the multi-night miniseries format with this urgent drama chronicling the decades-long gay right movement, created by Dustin Lance Black (Milk) and featuring an all-star cast, including Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths, and Whoopi Goldberg.
• Chicago Justice: Dick Wolf’s Windy City dramas keep on comin’! We go into his Chi-town latest for NBC—a new legal thriller featuring Philip Winchester and Jon Seda, sure to please the palette of Law & Order devotees.
• Luke Perry: The Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrob has grown up, and now he plays a papa in The CW’s breakout teen sensation Riverdale. He looks back at his storied career on TV, from 90210‘s Dylan McKay to his, ummm, revealing turn on Oz to the sadly underseen HBO curiosity John From Cincinnati.
• Plus: A deep dive into why FX’s Feud proves Ryan Murphy always hits the zeitgeist, a first look at the Bones series finale, Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris makes her debut on Fox’s Star, Six‘s technical advisor keeps his eye on the cast, and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.
During a break between the 9am Today show sign-off and the 10am West Coast news update, Matt Lauer settles into his office in New York’s Rockefeller Center, where photos of Muhammad Ali and Bruce Springsteen share space with family portraits. It’s a few days after the lavish on-air toasts to the morning show’s 65th anniversary and Lauer’s 20th as a coanchor. That’s not all there is to celebrate: Today just scored its 57th week as the No. 1 morning show among viewers 25–54 and its largest lead over Good Morning America in more than five years in that coveted demo.
As for 59-year-old Lauer, he still beams as he talks about landing his “dream job.” He speaks of his team over the years as “a family,” recalling the time he and Al Roker “trekked through a blizzard” to visit coanchor Katie Couric when she gave birth to her second daughter, and doing the same—minus the snow—for current cohost Savannah Guthrie. “The most surprising thing viewers don’t know is how loyal a friend he is,” says Roker.
Read the full story on newsstands now.
Also in this issue:
• A Farewell to Mary Tyler Moore: Our senior critic Matt Roush looks back on the iconic actress and her TV history. Plus: A look back at Moore’s TV GUIDE covers.
• Big Little Lies: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern star in HBO’s much-awaited series adapatation of Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel.
• Blacklist: Redemption: Everything you need to know about the Blacklist spinoff, featuring Famke Janssen as a covert boss.
• The Good Fight: Christine Baranski dishes on the sexy, long-awaited new Good Wife spinoff, the first primetime drama for streaming service CBS All Access.
• Doubt: Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy) returns to TV drama, in a new legal show costarring Orange is the New Black‘s Laverne Cox.
• Plus: The Detour plans a new move, Matthew Rhys puts in a memorable guest-starring bid on Girls, black-ish scene stealer Miles Brown, Lifetime offers up a Britney Spears biopic, the Spectra clan returns to The Bold and the Beautiful, NASCAR’s comeback and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.