Blue Bloods (TV series)

Blue Bloods is an American police procedural drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 24, 2010. Its main characters are members of the fictional Reagan family, an American, Irish Catholic family in New York City with a history of work in law enforcement. Blue Bloods stars Tom Selleck as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan; other main cast members include Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes and Len Cariou for all 14 seasons, plus Amy Carlson (seasons 1–7), and Sami Gayle (seasons 1–10; played by Marlene Lawston in the pilot).

The show is filmed on location in New York City with references to suburban areas as well. The series debuted on September 24, 2010, with episodes airing on Fridays following CSI: NY before being moved to Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time and 9:00 p.m. Central and Mountain time for a four-week tryout. After four weeks, it returned to its original Friday 10:00 p.m. Eastern time slot, where it has remained since.

On March 29, 2023, CBS announced the show had been renewed for a fourteenth season. On July 21, 2023, CBS announced the renewed 14th season would be delayed and on hold due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. However, on July 25, 2023, an editor from TV Fanatics stated that the main casts and crew had taken pay cuts for the 14th season to move forward. CBS has yet to confirm this. The 14th season premiered on February 16, 2024. On November 20, 2023, it was announced that the fourteenth season would be its last. The first ten episodes of the season began airing in February 2024, while the rest of the season, consisting of eight episodes, is scheduled to debut on October 18, 2024 and will air its series finale in December.

Premise
The series follows the Reagan family, with a long history of policing in New York. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Department Police Commissioner, a post his father also held. Frank's eldest surviving son, Danny, is an NYPD detective and his youngest son, Jamie, is an NYPD sergeant who graduated from Harvard University; his daughter, Erin, works as a New York city assistant district attorney bureau chief. Frank's second birth son, Joe (the series mistakenly refers to him as the eldest in later episodes), was murdered by a corrupt cop in the line of duty in events that predate the series, when he was involved with an FBI investigation of a group of corrupt NYPD cops known as the Blue Templar. Frank's father, Henry, is a former NYPD beat cop who rose through the ranks to become police commissioner. The show's title references both the "blue-blooded" concept of nobility as it relates to the Reagan family's powerful roles within New York's criminal justice system as well as an entire family who dedicate their lives to law enforcement, one that "bleeds blue" to match the blue color of NYPD uniforms.

Each member of the family represents a different aspect of police work or the legal process: Frank as the commissioner, Danny as the detective, Jamie as the beat cop, and Erin as the prosecutor. Additionally, while each person's story might occasionally interweave with another's, the show also follows the professional and, at times, personal relationships with their respective partners and colleagues: Frank with Garrett Moore, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and de facto Chief of Staff, Detective 1st Grade Abigail Baker, the primary aide to the commissioner, and later, Lieutenant Sidney Gormley, the Special Assistant to the Commissioner and de facto Chief of Department; Danny with Detective Jackie Curatola and later, Detective Maria Baez; Jamie with Officer Edit "Eddie" Janko; and Erin with Detective Anthony Abetemarco, who is an investigator for the DA's office.

The Reagans are an Irish-American Catholic family that gathers for Sunday dinner each week. According to People, "the Sunday supper is the heart of each show."

Both Henry's and Frank's respective wives, Betty and Mary, are deceased, as is Frank's eldest son, Joe. Erin is divorced and has one daughter, college graduate Nicky, who lived with her mother until accepting a job in San Francisco in season 10. Danny is a widower with two sons, Jack and Sean. He was married to Linda, a nurse who was killed off screen in a helicopter crash between seasons 7 and 8. Jamie married his partner, Edit "Eddie" Janko, in the season 9 finale. They acknowledged their mutual attraction during season 7 and became engaged at the end of season 8.

The season 10 finale reveals a son of Joe's, a fact unknown to himself and the family until the revelation. He‘s a 24 year old detective in the firearms unit named Joe Hill (played by Will Hochman).

Production
Selleck mentioned that he was drawn to the project because of the strong pilot script and that he was concerned about becoming involved in an ongoing series because he did not want to compromise his commitment to the Jesse Stone television movies. Beginning January 19, 2011, Blue Bloods was moved to Wednesdays at 10 p.m. for a four-week tryout. In February 2011, the series returned to its Friday night time slot due to the series premiere of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.

In the United Kingdom, the show helped launch Sky Atlantic by premiering on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, at 10:30 p.m. In Australia, the show premiered in February 2011 in a primetime Wednesday slot on Network Ten, then from February 2013 for season two was moved from the network's primary SD channel to its HD channel One alongside White Collar, then on August 26, 2013, the show moved back to the primary SD channel on Mondays for season three. In New Zealand, the show premieres on July 13, 2013, on TV3 replacing CSI: NY in a primetime Saturday slot after Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

On October 20, 2012, CBS announced that Jennifer Esposito was being dropped from the series, with her character, Detective Curatola, being placed on indefinite leave of absence. Esposito and CBS had been at odds over her limited availability for work after the actress was diagnosed with celiac disease. She had missed a week after collapsing on set earlier in the season. According to Esposito, CBS challenged her request for a reduced work schedule, and further, kept her from finding work elsewhere. In a press release from CBS, the network said that Esposito had "informed us that she is only available to work on a very limited part-time schedule. As a result, she's unable to perform the demands of her role and we regretfully had to put her character on a leave of absence." Esposito's last appearance in a "starring role" as Curatola was in the season three episode "Nightmares," though she did later reprise her role as a guest star in the final episode of season thirteen, "Forgive Us Our Trespasses", and appeared again in season fourteen.

According to TV by the Numbers, by committing itself to a third season of Blue Bloods, CBS all but guaranteed a fourth season, because, as a CBS Television Studios production, CBS had a financial incentive to produce at least the minimum number of episodes needed for stripped syndication. On March 27, 2013, CBS made it official by renewing Blue Bloods for a fourth season to begin in the fall of 2013. As of 2023, the show has been renewed through season 14. On November 20, 2023, it was reported that the fourteenth season is going to be the series's final season, with the first 10 episodes begin airing February 16, 2024, and the remaining eight in the fall of 2024. It was confirmed in May 2024 that the second half of the final season is scheduled to debut in October and the last episode will air in December.

In a February 2024 podcast interview, Gregory Jbara said it was possible the show could be extended to the spring 2025 season and beyond 300 episodes depending on viewership and initiative by Tom Selleck. Fans started an initiative to save the show with a social media hashtag, a petition, a letter writing campaign and in person signs on location. In interviews with CBS News in May 2024 during production of the second half of Season 14, Selleck said "I will continue to think that CBS will come to their senses" and that "all the cast wants to come back," comments he repeated at the end of May. He also said that "when they choose to end it, I think is debatable." He also told Entertainment Tonight "I'm gonna stay optimistic because everybody on the show wants to do it."

On June 4, 2024, Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins said at a shareholder presentation that there were plans for a "franchise extension" of Blue Bloods.

After negotiations over a merger between Paramount Global with Skydance Media collapsed in June 2024, a Deadline Hollywood column evaluating the company's possible future plans noted that the show's "Tom Selleck-led cast is kicking and screaming to stop the show from fading away at season’s end. Blue Bloods might not be a sexy Emmy magnet like Succession, but it has made a lot more money."

In comments livestreamed and recorded after production wrapped on Season 14 in June 2024, Wahlberg recalled the disruption during the Covid 19 pandemic and stated that "God willing, we'll get some more time together to do something magical again ... I pray that that can happen in one way or another, I won't give up trying." He wrote on Instagram in the days after filming that the show was one "that I know so many of us, and so many of you, wish could continue."

A house in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn is used for exterior shots of the Reagan home.

The series received $79 million in tax breaks from the state of New York for its seasons four through seven.

International broadcast
In Australia, the series premiered on Network Ten's primary channel on February 2, 2011. Due to poor ratings of the first season, Ten moved the series to its HD channel One, which premiered the second season on October 31, 2011. Due to decreased viewership of Ten's primary channel, season three moved back from August 26, 2013, and season four returned on March 17, 2014. Foxtel channel TV HITS (styled TV H!TS) have started airing the series from Episode 1, weeknights at 8:30 pm AEST as of March 20.

In Canada, new episodes air on CTV and are available for free for one week after the original air date on the CTV app.

In New Zealand, the series premiered on TV3 on July 13, 2013.

In Ireland, all series have been shown on RTE, which is the national broadcaster for the Republic of Ireland.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sky Atlantic premiered the series on February 1, 2011, with season two returning on October 4, 2011, season three on December 13, 2012, and season four on November 28, 2013. Season five premiered on January 21, 2015. From Season 9 Blue Bloods moved to Sky Witness and airs on Monday nights.

The series has also been broadcast throughout the Arabic-speaking market through MBC Action.

Every episode is available to stream on Paramount+.

Reruns
Reruns of Blue Bloods air nationally in the United States on Wednesdays on Ion Television, although it was briefly removed from the schedule in early 2020. NewsNation started airing the show daily with a marathon of episodes on July 4, 2022. Up TV began airing the program with episodes every weeknight. Blue Bloods aired on Sundance TV. CBS Media Ventures currently distributes the series to local outlets on weekends, with two episodes being offered. Repeats of Blue Bloods air on Pick (2018, showing only 2 seasons) and 5USA (currently showing in 2023) in the United Kingdom. The show airs twice a day on TV 2 Charlie in Denmark.

Critical response


For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 84% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.3/10 and based on 31 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Blue Bloods features charismatic performances from Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck, intriguing plotlines, and compelling doses of family drama within its police procedural trappings." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reviewers have praised the series' on-location shooting. The New York Daily News praised Selleck's performance as Frank Reagan while also praising the family dinner scenes for discussion of morally complex issues.

The Daily News drew comparisons between Selleck's characters Jesse Stone and Frank Reagan, saying that both Reagan and Stone are moral, principled men of few words. In Entertainment Weeklys annual Fall TV Preview, Ken Tucker named Blue Bloods one of the "5 Best New Shows" of 2010.

In late 2014, the magazine Slate's Laura Hudson criticized the show downplaying or apologizing for systemic racism in law enforcement. Similarly, in a 2022 episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver compared the show to an "adult PAW Patrol" and criticized it for perpetuating the myth that police officers could overdose on fentanyl after merely touching it, using clips from a 2017 episode of the show.

In 2017, Selleck was nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor for his work on the show.

In 2011, Michael Hann, writing for The Guardian, panned the show by calling it "predictable", "trite" and "pisspoor".

Ratings
The pilot episode garnered 15.258 million viewers because of the Live + 7 days after with viewings from DVRs. Without the DVR adding to the live viewing the show's debut episode garnered a total of 13.02 million viewers.

Overall, the ratings have been steady for the series, after the pilot episode. The lowest viewer total through the first seven seasons was 8.88 million in episode eight of season seven (which ran against Game 3 of the 2016 World Series); it was one of the few episodes through the first seven seasons that had fewer than 9 million initial-broadcast viewers. The second-season finale on May 11, 2012, was watched by 10.73 million viewers and received a 1.2/4 ratings/share among adults ages 18–49. The highest (non-pilot) live viewership of 12.93 million occurred in episode 14 of season four ("Manhattan Queens"), which was the series' 81st episode.

In January 2013, CBS announced via press release that Blue Bloods was the first scripted Friday series in 10 years to average at least 13 million viewers (live + 7), gaining eight percent more viewers than the previous year. The second season of CSI in 2001 had 14.78 million viewers, while the fourth season of Law & Order: SVU in 2003 had 14.92 million.

From season 8 onward, ratings have declined. Season 9 was the first season with no episodes reaching 10 million first-run viewers, although Blue Bloods still ranked as the eighth most watched program in 2018–19 Live + 7 viewership. Season 9 also saw the lowest first-run viewership for any episode to date (7.62 million for Ep. 14, "My Brother's Keeper").