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Blue Bloods, RIP

The very popular show is about a family deeply rooted in their patriotism, passion, love of family–and their Catholic Faith. So, why was it canceled?

(Image: Wikipedia)

Being a multi-tasker by nature (and habit), I often turn on the telly for some mindless entertainment while I do some writing or editing. For fourteen years, however, on Friday nights at ten, I have put aside any serious work to engage completely with a show that was anything but mindless entertainment: Blue Bloods. For those never initiated into the BB cult, permit me to summarize the thrust of the show (spoiler alert!).

It follows the lives of the NYPD’s First Family of Law Enforcement: the Reagans. Frank (Tom Selleck), the Police Commissioner and son of former PC Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), must balance his duties of running the largest police force in the world and being the paterfamilias. His daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan) is an Assistant District Attorney, while son Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) is a senior detective and his brother, Harvard Law grad-turned-cop, Jamie (Will Estes) live out the NYPD motto of “Fidelis ad Mortem” (Faithful unto Death) as they embrace the family tradition of “protecting and serving” the citizenry of the Big Apple.

The family is deeply rooted in their patriotism, passion, love of family–and their Catholic Faith.

The screen-writer(s) of the series must have been well schooled in the Gospel of the Family and the Laity as proposed for twenty-seven years by Pope St. John Paul II. Let but a few examples suffice:

• Nearly every episode features the Sunday family dinner, almost always shown by beginning with the Catholic Grace before Meals. At times, conversation ensues about the Sunday homily they just heard. The love the family members bear one another is always in evidence. The meal is not a “rush job” or a McDonald’s experience of a slightly higher octane; rather, one is put in mind of the verse of that lovely hymn, “Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether,” which pleads the Lord: “May all our meals be sacraments of Thee.” In fact, on one occasion, Frank declares: “It’s never about the food.”

• Frank the Commissioner is the high school classmate of the Archbishop; they value their lifelong friendship and collaborate to the mutual benefit of Church and City.

• The children attend Catholic schools. Erin’s daughter is a bit of a rebel, who tries to instigate a protest at her high school, which earns the displeasure of the school’s administration. The family sides with the school authorities.

• There is never a hint of sexual immorality, even during Jamie and Eddie’s courtship (their wedding takes place at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral). In the finale, they announce their pregnancy as Eddie says, “We’re gonna need all the parenting advice you can get,” and even more, how delighted they will be to have “a little one running around” and, yes, how “lucky” a kid will be to have such a family.

• Erin is divorced but does not re-marry. In the finale, we learn that she and her ex-husband are to reconcile.

• Police personnel are not canonized, but they are not demonized, either. When Frank or his sons act in a way that pricks their conscience, they go to confession; indeed, they view their professional careers as vocations.

• The Church is never presented in a bad light. In one episode, a priest is accused of sexual abuse of a minor; it turns out to be a false accusation.

Rumors of the show’s cancellation began circulating months in advance of the final blow, causing both fans and cast to launch a campaign to save the sixth-highest-rated show on network television and the fourth-highest on CBS (despite its less-than-optimal 10 p.m. time slot). Interestingly, it is being replaced by SWAT, only the sixteenth-highest-rated series on CBS and a viewership of two million fewer. In point of fact, the network had indicated their intention to cancel the show after Season 13 but relented only because the cast agreed to a 25% pay cut. Wahlberg and Selleck were particularly vocal in pressing for a reversal of the cancellation. Eleven million people watched the series finale, causing not a few to threaten a network boycott–that’s loyalty!

Wahlberg offered this touching human reflection on his experience:

We worked hard to represent the people of New York and the NYPD, and we worked hard to keep the show going and to keep it compelling for 14 years. . . And it was a lot to say goodbye. It might sometimes, from the outside, seem weird, like, ‘Oh, all these actors are crying that their show’s over.’ But we did become a family, and we did become a family with the crew. And just to say goodbye to them was emotional.

And even more this paean to fatherhood:

Fourteen years of calling this man [Selleck] my cast mate, my commissioner, my friend and — whether it was on screen or off — calling him DAD! It’s been an honor, my dear friend. Thank you for leading the way and for always trusting in me. Thank you for being a father figure, and a leader, to all of us on the set of Blue Bloods. Our tour has ended, but the friendship, admiration, respect and memories, will remain. Happy Blue Bloods Finale Friday.

His caption concluded, “Love you, Dad. All my gratitude, Donnie aka Danny aka Son.” Both Wahlberg and Selleck are Catholics (as are most of the principal players of the series).

So, what happened? What caused the demise of such a popular show? While no one will say it out loud, I believe a major factor was that it was just “too Catholic.” Which puts me in mind of a similar situation four decades ago, when I served as the public relations director for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

In 1975, John Powers (who would become a good friend of mine) wrote Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?  It was a light-hearted, slightly irreverent but lovingly told novel about growing up in the Catholic schools of the 1950s. The author turned the popular novel into a play, which made its debut at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, on December 11, 1981, playing to standing-room-only crowds until May 1, 1982. I was present for its opening night and will never forget the nearly unbelievable response of the audience to the beautifully moving scene of the May Crowning: Almost as on-cue, the entire audience spontaneously rose to their feet and joined the on-stage chorus in singing, “Hail Mary, We Crown Thee with Blossoms Today” (as could only happen in a city with a strong Catholic school culture like Philly).

The play received rousing standing ovations for minutes on end for the next five months, when Powers brought the show to the Alvin Theater on Broadway for its opening night on May 27, 1982 (the fifth anniversary of my priestly ordination). Based on the rave reviews the play had garnered in Philadelphia, tickets were sold out for weeks in advance. . . until an incredibly nasty, bigoted review appeared the next day in the New York Times–that journal of objectivity. The show died on May 30 because it was condemned to death by the beautiful and sophisticated elites.

Contrast that scenario with the hateful, viciously anti-Catholic Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, as viewers were treated to every kind of Catholic school horror story that had ever been passed on and, at the end of which, the crazy nun kills one of her students. That poorly written and badly acted excuse for a drama began its life off-Broadway and then held the elites captive on Broadway from 1979 through 1981. Yes, we read from non-Catholic scholars of history and sociology, thoughts like the following: Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to anti-Catholicism as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” Peter Viereck dubbed it “the anti-Semitism of the left,” while Philip Jenkins sub-titled his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”

All that having been said, I do not think contemporary anti-Catholicism (and Wokeism in general) is a disease affecting the vast majority of Americans; I think it is a contagion almost peculiarly caught by elites who, because they only talk to each other, are convinced and try to convince everyone else that their shibboleths should be ours. The failure of mainstream news outlets and the disastrous campaigns of Bud Lite and Target validates my point, in the latter two instances bringing those corporations to their financial knees.

The national election of 2024 seems to suggest that “normal” Americans still hanker for traditional values. And the fourteen-year-long successful run of Blue Bloods suggests the same. Too bad, CBS was apparently willing to sacrifice success for ideology.


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About Peter M.J. Stravinskas 292 Articles
Reverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas founded The Catholic Answer in 1987 and The Catholic Response in 2004, as well as the Priestly Society of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, a clerical association of the faithful, committed to Catholic education, liturgical renewal and the new evangelization. Father Stravinskas is also the President of the Catholic Education Foundation, an organization, which serves as a resource for heightening the Catholic identity of Catholic schools.

25 Comments

  1. Isn’t it CBS that’s being sued for intentional bias in their editing of the Harris 60-Minutes interview? I can only hope that the multi-million dollar lawsuit against them is successful.

  2. I did like Blue Bloods a lot, but to portray it as staunchly Catholic is erroneous. Sorry but Frank has at least one dalliance in the series. There is also the female officer who does online intimate photos which Frank views and has no particular issue with. In one episode we find out that Grandpa Henry and his wife had participated at a nude beach and he has no regrets. How about the medium that engages Danny in several episodes? Also, and more disturbingly, several episodes portray Christians in a very negative light with one episode portraying murderers of adult film stars as motivated by their “Christian” religion. How many times in real life has THAT actually happened? Perhaps those were the concessions to those anti-Catholics/anti-Christian/anti-religion crowd that allowed such a show to stay on the air so long.

    • I second that. Father, you must have missed some episodes. Lead characters definitely did fornicate. And how about the teenager who committed suicide because she knew her parents wouldn’t accept her as a lesbian? Or the pious Catholic father who killed his daughter for turning Muslim? Our sympathies were directed towards the deal girls in these and other such cases.

      • I’m not sure why you think episodes which have Catholics sinning means the show is not “Staunchly Catholic”. After all, in my experience, I dont know any Catholics who havent sinned, sinned may times and maybe even sinned egregiously. Some even celebrate mass every Sunday.
        No, its a disservice to Christ, his Church, and all Catholics to hold us to a “no sin” standard. Every hear of Confession??

  3. Police shows in general do not interest me. But I have watched this a few times and found it very well done. My Mother is addicted to the series.

    Its mysterious why any network would cancel a highly rated show unless someone in power did not agree with the moral principles it was portraying. I did not hear any of the primary characters wanted to get off the show. It is indeed a loss to have a quality family-friendly program leave the air to creepy “reality” shows and those that show the amoral and seedy side of humanity.

    • They also, in my opin, messed up the promising series “Kevin can wait.” The first season went well, a newly retired Catholic policeman, with him questioning how his wife manages the home, his daughter’s British boyfriend living in the garage out of necessity etc etc… Nice wife played by Erinn Hayes. Then because someone noticed there was still chemistry between Kevin James and Leah Remini, they killed off his wife on the new series and brought Remini back on the 2nd season as his new wife, which was its last.

      I believe James is a practicing Catholic.

  4. This was the 14th season of Blue Bloods – the show was tired.
    There could only be so many battles between Danny and Erin before they got boring.
    Jamie and Eddie were living together prior to their marriage.
    Jamie was living with his fiancee in the 1st season prior to her departure for London.
    Tom Selleck is not a Catholic. IMO he was superb as ‘Ike’ and in the Jesse Stone adventures. His most important characteristic is his ‘gravitas’, which was always there and which carried the show throughout.

    My favorite line – at some point someone mentions pulling strings, the camera focuses on Frank, he pauses and then says ” I AM the string.”

    2nd favorite line – to a room full of reporters he says “Who of you in this room wants to live in a city where the Police Commissioner sees a crime being committed and just drives by?”

    At first I was a loyal watcher at 10 every Friday night for about 14 seasons, but as I said it got tired and I got bored. I missed the finale because I didn’t know it was coming, but it will turn up again at some point.

    Many years ago a director told me that if you can’t get the audience to care about your characters in the first few minutes, you’ll be climbing up a slippery hill – Blue Bloods never made that mistake.

      • Your evidence? If he is, it’s a very recent development.

        I did watch and enjoy Blue Bloods for several years but got bored with it. Even the best TV show wear out their welcome.

        • Never trust Wikipedia. The following comes from an interview with TS:
          Born on January 29, 1945, Tom Selleck, who plays the role of NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan, is indeed Catholic in real life. Selleck has been open about his faith, and his deep-rooted Catholic upbringing has influenced his personal and professional life.

        • He also appears to belong to the Disciples of Christ. The internet has a lot conflicting info sometimes.
          It’s a British name, there are Sellecks in Somerset. Tom Selleck reminds me a bit of my late brother who served in law enforcement in real life.

  5. To say that NYC is an abominable district of garbage devoid of any value would be an exaggeration. But the way BB portrayed NYC was the opposite exaggeration. As someone who experienced much of the city and its inhabitants, I could not stand to watch so much rose-colored drivel.

    • Sal;

      “Rose-colored drivel” – that phrase has a nice ring to it. Would you mind if I put it to my own use at some future appropriate date? I would, of course, credit you before doing so.

      In return – let me offer you this one – once upon a time, aka more than 50 years ago, either Ann Landers or her sister Dear Abby got a letter in the Chicago Tribune in which the writer made a truly absurd remark.

      The response – “You may have a point, but if you keep your hat on maybe no one will notice.”

  6. My departed from this world atheist brother in law, who hated Rudy Giuliani’s proactive policing of NYC, had an usual affection for the Blue Bloods series, despite the topic of strong policing, a very Catholic family deeply involved. Perhaps a betrayal of his unspoken predilections, and my love for him.

  7. Fan of Blue Bloods. Blue Bloods and Last Man Standing are the only network TV shows I watch on a regular basis, even the reruns. BB writing was creative but maybe getting a little tired. Doesn’t matter if cancelled it will live a long time in reruns, like Star Trek, which is still sorta cool. Now I will just Fox’s Gutfeld for solid entertainment and check out what is on EWTN.

  8. I just googled ‘Tom Selleck religious affiliation’ and he says he is a member of the Disciples of Christ Church, there is also a piece that says he is Episcopalian, and that Bridget Moynihan taught him how to make the sign of the Cross for when they were saying grace at meals.

  9. It was a good show, it will be missed, and there will be reruns for many moons.

    I remember back in the early 70s when I read a book called ‘Mountain Man’ by Vardis Fisher. Robert Redford made a movie called ‘Jeremiah Johnson’ based partially on that book, and it was pretty bad. IMO the movie ‘Mountain Man’ should have been made and the only actor who was right for the part of Sam Minard was Tom Selleck.

  10. Name one cop show where the main characters deal with the meanest, baddest people in the planet and yet, not one F word, not one! was ever used. That’s one reason why I loved Blue Blood.

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  1. Blue Bloods, RIP – seamasodalaigh

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