Blue Bloods is ready to hit an amazing milestone and the cast couldn’t be happier.
As the series is set to air its landmark 250th episode this week, stars Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg discussed how it feels to achieve such a long run and what makes the show work so well.
Selleck and Wahlberg on Blue Bloods’ success
When Blue Bloods premiered in 2010, few could have guessed it would be one of the longest-running dramas on CBS.
Over 12 seasons later, the series is still the highest-rated network drama on Friday nights and has adapted well to the times. Episodes regularly address issues of police conduct, yet through the Reagans, viewers can respect the challenges the police face.
Appearing together on CBS This Morning, Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg both admitted they never expected the show to have the success it did.
Selleck stated that he “thought when Leonard Goldberg pitched this to us, maybe we get five seasons, that’ll be great. So it’s a little unbelievable, but you don’t get enough time in this business, you always move on, you don’t get enough time to reflect so thank you for asking us because we get to do that.”
Wahlberg added that the cast did click right off, yet still amazed at how quickly they bonded.
“It’s evolved in that way. When I first read the script, I said this reminds me of my childhood, fighting around the dinner table. And when we first did our first dinner scene and I looked at [Selleck] at the end of the table and I thought ‘oh he’s intimidating like my dad.’ And I felt like that nervousness. But over time, we really became that family.”
Selleck agreed, stating, “We kind of hit it off in the beginning. We’ve got two families, we’ve got the family of characters in Blue Bloods and we’ve got this family of actors who all like each other and I think it shows. I’ve been on some sets where you walk around on eggshells and it ain’t fun, but we don’t do that.”
Wahlberg was quick to credit Selleck for the show’s success and how he’s as much a leader on set as Frank Reagan.
“I work hard, the whole cast and crew work hard but Tom really dug in early on and really set the tone for what the show would be. He’s a great leader, he’s not just a mentor to me but a father figure to me.”
The family bond remains strong with Blue Bloods
Just like on screen, the cast is quite close. Wahlberg joked, “we’ve had dinner with each other more than we do with our real families.”
When the conversation turned to why the show has remained so popular, Wahlberg stated it was the balance between the family drama and tackling serious issues of police work.
“If you come from a big family, you relate. If you’ve ever had to sit down at the dinner table with the family, you can relate. If you don’t, you can live vicariously through the Reagans. And I think the show…we deal with things on the show. There are a lot of different personalities and different perspectives. So it’s not ‘this is the only perspective’ on the show.
There are family members who disagree, but through those disagreements, we love each other and respect each other and give each other space to talk and air things out and give other people on the show the space to alk and air things out. And in the end, love is at the core of it and sort of keeps us all glued together.”
While Selleck claims that “it feels like yesterday” since the show began, he and the rest of the cast are proud of the 250th episode milestone and hopeful there will be many more to come.
Blue Bloods Season 12 airs Fridays at 10/9c on CBS.
All episodes of Blue Bloods are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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