Blue Bloods, the new cop show that’s carved out an audience on Friday nights, moved to Wednesday this week, and proved why viewers like this series. A 25 year-old case involving the death of a child brought up a lot of memories and a lot of emotions in Tom Selleck’s Frank Reagan, but, superb actor that he is, Selleck made sure Frank communicated those emotions — sadness, anger, frustration — without any excessive displays.
In the hour’s other plot, Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan investigated the murder of a woman who worked for a posh escort service. Unlike Selleck, Wahlberg’s way of achieving a quality performance is to have Danny simmer just below the boiling-point. He satisfies a viewer’s desire for the hardboiled element of a cop show, spitting out lines like, “Let’s go scoop up this piece o’ garbage” before apprehending a suspect.
Blue Bloods is a family saga; the Reagan family extends from a beat cop (Will Estes) to an assistant district attorney (Bridget Moynahan). It’s a gimmick that, during a good week such as this one, transcends gimmickry. The show’s signature moment is the family dinner in which everyone gathers around to eat and argue about the cases they’re working on.
This week, the quarter-century-old case gnawed at Frank’s memory and conscience; brooding and relentless, Frank seemed to share a bit of the bleak worldweariness Selleck gives to his other fine current character: Jesse Stone, in the annual TV-movies Selleck makes. But Frank is distinguished by the fact that he’s a family man who’s accepted a big job — New York police commissioner — and will put up with the bureaucracy if it helps the police all the way down to the street-cop level. But this week, Frank’s impassive face betrayed the strain of a case that got away from him, that haunted him into the present. That betrayal was the measure of a fine performance. Selleck’s climactic scene, in which Frank drew out a confession from the murderer in an interrogation room with quiet, reasoned fury, was pretty great.
Do you watch Blue Bloods? What do you think of the series?
RATINGS UPDATE: You fans will be glad to know that in its Wednesday premiere, Blue Bloods won its time period and scored higher ratings than the show it replaced, The Defenders.
Twitter: @kentucker
I miss Big Apple.
mangoes are better, but the real question is when will Higgins make his guest appearance
“Big Apple” was a cool series. It seems over the last decade the best cop shows come and go, while the lamest stick around.
“Blue Bloods” certainly has potential, although it has gotten silly at times making Donnie act as if on loan from “Heroes”, seemingly being the only one of the 35,000 NYPD officers actually capable of solving a crime. Plus, you have to have a high tolerance for his performance–he seems to have graduated from the Dylan McDermott School which confuses whispering and talking softly with emoting.
And unlike most, I don’t find Tom Selleck all that compelling, making each red, white and blue pronouncement as if he is on loan from Mount Rushmore.
Moynahan and Estes are first rate. But, I think the show is anemic when compared with “Southland”.
Excellent episode. Tom Selleck was awesome in this. This has become one of my favorite shows.
Ditto.
Love Blue Bloods….So do all my friends and family….that makes about 90 of us that watch the show.
Wednesday is a great night.
I truly love the show its about family thats great
Mine too. Reminds me a lot of Hill Street Blues and the chiefs “daughter” looks a lot like Veronica Hamill dont you think?
Like Margo Shephard Veronica Hamil? Hmm…not sure I see that. But I think Bridget is beautiful.
Blue Bloods is one of my favorite shows on commercial television. The entire cast is excellent.
I second and third that.
did not watch tonight. but I like the show.
I love this show more every week. So good to have Blue Bloods back! Love Donnie and wow for Tom Selleck. He was born to play Frank.
Didnt watch this episode yet, was watching Top Chef. But Tom Selleck is the best thing about this show. Donnie Walberg’s Danny need a steady partner. When they do the affirmative action thing with his partner each week. As a minority I love seeing someone of color on tv but the constant changing is irriating. They should just stay with Jennifer. But Danny’s wife is super annoying. I would never guess that I would hate that character since I loved the actress on Another World but that accent and her overall performance sucks. I so wanted her to die in that bomb episode. Sometimes that wife makes me get annoyed at Danny because I dont understand why he deals with her. Also that granddaughter with that hair, needs to be shipped off to her father. She reminds me of Sofia Coppolla in Godfather 3 the way she performs.
You must have missed the news that Jennifer Esposito is now a series regular so her character will be Danny’s regular partner. Don’t know when those episodes will consistently start but she’s been there in the ones I’ve watched.
They only list her as a guest in the credits and not as a regular. I hope you are right
Exec producer Leonard Goldberg announced her as a series regular in mid-November.
Loving this show. Got kinda choked up during the interrogation scene…and when Frank had to tell Leo’s mom. Frank’s a bad a$$…but he’s got a sweet side. And Will Estes is adorable. lol
Forgot how much I liked Tom Selleck. Tom’s the man.
I love Blue Bloods! Never miss it and it does not matter to me if it is on Wednesday or Friday. It is a Fantastic Show!
One of the best! The other is The Good Wife. Both are “must-sees” in our home! The writing & the acting are top-notch.
I originally started watching the show because I have always loved Tom Selleck and have become addicted to the Jesse Stone movies. The show started off a bit stiff, but has really improved. I think they still have to improve some of the cliche writing, but Tom makes even those lines sound good.
Love this show! This week’s episode was one of the best so far. Already looking forward to next Wednesday!
Tom Selleck makes every project better. He raises the acting game for the entire cast. This week’s episode felt very real. What could have been a boring ‘same old’ story became compelling thanks to Selleck’s performance. He truly shines.
Enjoyed tonight’s episode.
I laughed so hard when the boys were getting an explaination of what a “call girl” was, lol!
Blue Bloods is brilliant!
I would watch Blue Bloods any night of the week. Donnie Wahlbergs courtroom scene at the end was just as fantastic as Tom Selleck getting the confession you mentioned above. All the Reagans, even the boys “oh so aunt erins a call girl”, bring a smile to my face!
Can you post the ratings so we will know how it did on Wednesday?? I’m itching to know if it went up from Friday!
I thought Danny’s court room antics were over-the-top ridiculous, and he came off as if he was on an ego trip.
If this show wants to be taken seriously, it should cut out that crap. There is no way an NYPD detective could ambush the ADA in court and grandstand like he did.
Did Danny’s tactic even work in the long run? Probably not. The mobster would have received a new trial with a new judge. Who knows how a new judge would have ruled on the evidence? The writers punted on the subtantive issue of the accused having the right to examine evidence against them.
It made no sense that neither the FBI agent nor the judicial investigator didn’t involve the DA’s office. The FBI isn’t going to go to a NYPD street dectective and ask him drop charges on an informant. It would have made more sense if the FBI had gone to Erin and the DA.
I agree with another comment that the show’s gotten silly by having Danny be this chest thumping detective who can solve every crime in NYC by himself as well as root out judicial corruption at the same time. Heck, they’ll probably have him try cases pretty soon. No need to involve the DA’s office. Sigh.
I, for one, have grown tired of Donnie Walhberg and Tom Selleck’s acting.
Walhberg’s been hamming it up lately, especially with Espisito as his partner, since she seems to go broad too. I liked the actress who was Danny’s first female partner , since her no nonsense style was a nice counterbalance to Donnie.
Selleck does provide nice gravitas to the role, but he is just so darn somber and slow in every scene. He needs to learn how to do something other than grimice and frown in every reacion shot.
On the other hand, I like Moynahan, Estes and the Grandpa. They are all fine understated actors.