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June 11 - 17, 2018 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Character on "South Park" 5. Network for "Closing Bell" 9. Actor Christopher __ 10. Astaire's dancing sister 12. Eddie's "Green Acres" costar 13. "Secrets and __" (2015- 16) 16. Anti's vote 17. Prefix for cycle or lingual 18. Grandma's name on "The Waltons" 20. Suffix for cook or book 21. Ortiz and her namesakes 23. Dumbo's "wings" 25. Mr. Carney 26. Fruity drink 27. "Madam Secretary" star 28. Popular dog, for short 29. Series for Shemar Moore 30. Minstrel's harp 32. Initials for Lou Grant's portrayer 33. "__ Queen" (1975-76) 38. "Studio 60 __ the Sunset Strip" 39. Feasted 41. Sworn statement 42. "My __ Dads" (1987-90) 43. Actor Denis 45. Buttermilk's rider Dale __ 47. McClanahan and others 48. Assistant DOWN 1. Role on "Chicago P.D." (2) 2. Certain vote 3. Johnny Depp's age 4. Snakelike fishes 5. "Cold __" (2003-10) 6. Josh Duhamel's state of birth: abbr. 7. Jerry Stiller's boy 8. Role on "The Good Doctor" (2) 9. 2001-07 series about a Southern mom 11. "__ Wide Shut"; Tom Cruise film 14. Word in the title of Jerry Mathers' classic series 15. Syllable from the hard of hearing 18. "The Fifth __"; 2013 Benedict Cumberbatch thriller 19. "You Were Never __ Here"; 2017 Joaquin Phoenix film 22. Region 24. "Queen for __ __" 29. "__ Team" 31. Baseball's Slaughter 34. Myrna and others 35. "__ Law" (1986-94) 36. Film alien 37. Carla's portrayer on "Cheers" 40. Thirsty Parisian's need 42. Small amount 44. Prefix for formed or finished 46. "Star Wars: Episode __ — Return of the Jedi" Solution on page 2 CoverStory By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it Satisfied that it's done what she wanted it to, Jen- nifer Lopez is more excited than blue about the start of her police drama's final season. "Shades of Blue" returns to NBC for its third and last round Sunday, June 17, with Detective Harlee Santos (Lopez, also an executive producer of the show) having escaped the clutches — presumably — of obsessed FBI-agent admirer Stahl (Warren Kole), and Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta) dealing with being shot by an unlikely assailant. Bruce McGill joins the series for its victory lap, playing a self-styled intelli- gence operative, with Nick Wechsler also a recurring co-star now. "We always knew that we would only do this (show) for a few years," Lopez says. "I started on it as a producer, and I never planned to star in it. I helped develop Harlee and the other characters, and it was so daunting to take it on (as an actress) because usually, those are seven-year commitments. I put it out there from the beginning that I didn't know if I'd be able to do that, but they were like, 'If you do this, we'll go on the air with 13 episodes right now."' Ryan Seacrest is among Lopez's production partners on "Shades of Blue," and she reflects, "When we were going through the journey of Harlee and where she could go, we got to the point where it was like, 'OK, this is the end of the story.' It ends in a perfect way, kind of beau- tifully tragic and yet not. It's complex." While Lopez also has done her share of drama in movies, she cites Harlee as "one of my favorite characters I've ever played. She permeated my soul in a way that I never imagined. I always knew it would be exciting, because there weren't a lot of complex female characters out there to play, and this was super-spe- cial in that sense. That's why I took the leap of faith, knowing all of the other responsibili- ties I had, but also knowing I didn't want to pass up this opportunity as an artist." Lopez isn't kidding about "other responsibilities." In ad- dition to her Las Vegas con- cert residency that continues into this fall, she's a producer and judge on NBC's "World of Dance," now in its second season (and already renewed for a third). Her demanding schedule has pushed back a planned live staging of "Bye Bye Birdie" for NBC a couple of times, but she believes that still could happen. The third and final season of "Shades of Blue" begins Sunday on NBC. Jennifer Lopez's 'Shades of Blue' prepares to fade to black

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