Tom Selleck Still Frustrated Over ‘Blue Bloods’ Cancellation
Nearly two years after the Reagans had their last Sunday dinner on Blue Bloods, Tom Selleck is still reeling from the show’s cancellation. The Golden Globe winner recently opened up about the cast’s decision to take a 25% pay cut in an attempt to keep the CBS procedural going past its 14-season run, which lasted from 2010 to 2024.
‘Blue Bloods was a labor of love… I think for everybody,’ Selleck explained on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast. ‘The real truth to that is in the last year of [Blue Bloods], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary. We’d already done all sorts of things to keep the show going.’
The Cast’s Efforts to Save the Show
According to Selleck, the cast was committed to saving the show and had already taken significant steps to make it happen. ‘We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary. We’d already done all sorts of things to keep the show going,’ he said. The cast’s efforts to save the show were not in vain, as the show remained one of the top-rated programs on broadcast television, ranking number six in its fifteenth year.
‘Out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our fifteenth year. Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on. That’s hard to get,’ Selleck noted. ‘It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time. Usually if it wasn’t a family, it would be different, but you know, you couldn’t very well replace Jamie [played by Will Estes] or Danny [Wahlberg] or anybody with another actor.’
Selleck praised the cast’s commitment to the show, stating that ‘Blue Bloods was never that’ miserable work environment that many shows experience. He credited the cast’s camaraderie and dedication to the show’s success, saying, ‘A lot of shows become miserable to work on. You get a lot of egos and ‘I’m not coming out of my dressing room until he’s coming out’… and it’s miserable. Blue Bloods was never that.’
The Legacy of Blue Bloods
Blue Bloods may be gone, but its legacy lives on in the form of its spin-off series, Boston Blue. The show, which premiered in October and has been renewed for Season 2, returns on October 9. Donnie Wahlberg reprised his role as Det. Danny Reagan in the spin-off series, continuing the story of the Reagan family.
Selleck’s experience on Blue Bloods was a highlight of his career, and he praised the show’s impact on his life. ‘Maybe people don’t realize, but a lot of shows become miserable to work on,’ he explained. ‘You get a lot of egos and ‘I’m not coming out of my dressing room until he’s coming out’… and it’s miserable. Blue Bloods was never that.’
Selleck’s dedication to the show was evident in his words, and it’s clear that he still feels a sense of loss over its cancellation. Despite the show’s success, its end marked the end of an era for the cast and crew. As Selleck noted, ‘Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on.’
Blue Bloods: A Labor of Love
Blue Bloods was a show that was truly a labor of love for its cast and crew. The show’s success was a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, and its legacy will live on through its spin-off series and the memories of its fans. As Selleck said, ‘Blue Bloods was a labor of love… I think for everybody.’
