Blue Bloods - CBS *Spoilers*

JP Liz V1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5I308uGIVU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5NCzmy0gRg

It starts tonight on CBS, it stars Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Len Cariou and Will Estes

Richard Dower

I think this might be a really good cop drama, but on the Friday Night Death Slot?
Cheers Liz for covering all the shows. :-)

Conor108

Looks really good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR54ghcg-UQ

JP Liz V1

Jennifer Esposito joins this week as Detective Jackie Curatola. Jackie is the new partner of Danny Reagan.

I havent watched any of this so far - Is it any good?

Richard Dower

I watched the pilot, it has a good cast, it's doing very well ratings wise...it's aimed at an older audience though, it's kinda an old school character driven drama.

MagicMarker

I might give this a watch tomorrow, doesn't seem to be a whole lot being said about it on boards though, does anyone recommend it?

cena

isn't it coming on the new sky channel. looks really good

JP Liz V1

cena wrote: »

isn't it coming on the new sky channel. looks really good

I think RTE has picked it up also

Tristram

Watched the first 11 episodes there last week. It's pretty decent. Pretty strong cast apart from the guy playing the younger brother, although maybe that's just a poorly written part. Magnum does a good job.

I found the episode ending with Magnum shooting the daughter's would-be-rapist a bit farcical and not in keeping with the show.

JP Liz V1

cena wrote: »

isn't it coming on the new sky channel. looks really good

Starts tonight on Sky Atlantic at 10.30

djkeogh

Just watched this last night. I had been looking forward to it but felt the Pilot fell flat.

Far too many convenient things happening for them to break the case and ultimately get the evidence they needed and the pacing was all over the place. Lets hope the cop stories in future episodes are not so poorly executed. I thought it was gonna be a tough gritty viewing when the little girl was kidnapped at the start of the episode but it never followed through for me and felt contrived and there was some cringey acting in there as well.

I'll give it a few more episodes before making a final decision but the pilot is a disappointment.

Cherry_Cola

djkeogh wrote: »

Just watched this last night. I had been looking forward to it but felt the Pilot fell flat.

Far too many convenient things happening for them to break the case and ultimately get the evidence they needed and the pacing was all over the place. Lets hope the cop stories in future episodes are not so poorly executed. I thought it was gonna be a tough gritty viewing when the little girl was kidnapped at the start of the episode but it never followed through for me and felt contrived and there was some cringey acting in there as well.

I'll give it a few more episodes before making a final decision but the pilot is a disappointment.

I too watched it last night and couldn't have put it better myself. Will stick it out for another few episodes.

cjmcork

watched the Pilot last night - purely on the strength of Tom Selleck, it was good enough I thought (but to be honest, apart from House, I don't think the quality of TV is up to much at the moment), but I wouldn't be dying to see next week's ep, I'll keep it on Series Link for a while and will stick it out, but if it turns out to be another Flashforward, we're going to have some issues!!!

The Black Oil

Worst opening music ever? :pac:

Am a little cynical about the sheer number of family connections involved in the law, but I'll let that go. It seems like it's going to be more character driven than focusing on crimes or victims. I didn't really buy the dinner table scene in the pilot. Are we going to be stuck with one of those every week? That and some of the wearestatingthisincaseyoudontgetit dialogue was a little meh and ropey, but it's a procedural. The other Wahlberg is a likable enough lead. It's obviously going for a fairly mainstream audience, keeping things quite straightforward and that. A little bit hard to take it seriously when the Police Commissioner has a briefing room to rival 24 and a media/IT playpen to rival POTUS, but we all know about portrayal of IT our on screens... I'll give a bit longer to see how things progress. It's trying to weave things together and it's doing OK there, I think.

I logged on to post about episode 3, but I can't remember what I wanted to say.

MagicMarker

I like it, I've watched the first 14 episodes with 2 still to air.

Like you said it's straightforward enough with nothing ground breaking, but it's good none the less. Some good episodes with a few excellent episodes thrown in.

And yes there's a dinner table scene pretty much every week.

djkeogh

haven't watched the 3rd episode yet but the 2nd episode was an improvement. I'm gonna give it a few more to see whether it grabs me but while better than the pilot was it still mightn't live up to it's promise. Selleck is a big draw for me but he's fairly muted in this so far.

DaraghMAC

You are obviously not too smart!! NYPD are famous for Family links!! This a great show! I have watched all of the cop shows based in NY ant this is good! Bring on Season 2

Richard Dower

DaraghMAC wrote: »

You are obviously not too smart!! NYPD are famous for Family links!! This a great show! I have watched all of the cop shows based in NY ant this is good! Bring on Season 2

^ wait...did the forum rules change - can we insult people now? :eek: - 'cause i've got a TON of people on my hitlist for a verbal bashing! :mad:

[yeah - i'm looking at you Darko!]

Mr E

Don't even think about it, Rich.
Infraction for DaraghMac.

Really enjoying the show, it's never going to be mistaken for a classic or a groundbreaking show but on it's own merits it's damn good entertainment. The cast are mostly terrific Wahlberg who has impressed before most noticeably in the brilliant The Killpoint is really maturing into a damn fine actor and Selleck is on top form.

I think a lot of my enjoyment of the show comes down to watching a fine actor such as Selleck get a starring role such as this, he's always been dependable in any role and much like Tom Betenger got something of a raw deal and was reduced to bit parts or low budget genre films.

JP Liz V1

Deleted User wrote: »

Really enjoying the show, it's never going to be mistaken for a classic or a groundbreaking show but on it's own merits it's damn good entertainment. The cast are mostly terrific Wahlberg who has impressed before most noticeably in the brilliant The Killpoint is really maturing into a damn fine actor and Selleck is on top form.

I think a lot of my enjoyment of the show comes down to watching a fine actor such as Selleck get a starring role such as this, he's always been dependable in any role and much like Tom Betenger got something of a raw deal and was reduced to bit parts or low budget genre films.

I loved Donnie in Boomtown and I find his character similar in this to what it was in that well there are both detectives Will Estes is great also as the young brother. I'm enjoying the series so far hopefully it survives for a full season and beyond.

faulk28

I've watched the first 3 episodes, while I feel there's potential there, I'm still not sure what I'm watching.

yayamark

easy to watch stuff

manster

13 episodes in and the only thing thats keeping me interested in the back story about Joe. Never knew that New York criminals were so easy to break into pussy-cat snitches in the interrogation rooms.

cjmcork

threw the towel in half-way through last week's episode.........can't understand how the daughter never refers to her ex-husband by name (they are meant to be a close family after all) and why her character reminds family members of stuff that would be taken for granted...........sorry, I love Tom Selleck, but just couldn't watch it anymore

kenon

I'm watching this as it appears on Atlantic so I'm on episode 6 or something.

I'm finding it a struggle to keep watching it even though the cast is quite strong. I dislike the "wonder" cop that is Donnie Wahlberg's character. The chap could walk to the toilet and solve a few murders on the way. And the dinners...christ, there was two in the last episode I watched. The "happy family" thing contributes nothing for me.

I'm going to hope that it picks up and hopefully "the Blue Templar" brings an edge to the show which is certainly lacking at the moment.

Cherry_Cola

I agree it's a bit cheesy alright and the dinners are a bit cringey aswell.

It's ok for what it is but the Chicago Code and even Breakout Kings show a lot more promise and have more of an edge to them which I prefer. Will still stick with it though.

My intrest in this is fading,I think im on e15 or so and for me it doesnt go in depth enough.

You have the joe back story but apart from that every crime is solved in 1 episode.
I came to it from the wire so probably expecting too much.

I havent watched the sopranos yet but I think this is produced by the same guys,so I expected more detailed plots.

Richard Dower

Creators exit show, CBS are intent on fecking up the show!....i can see it being aced come May; http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/more-turmoil-blue-bloods-creators-exit/

The Black Oil

I missed 2 episodes a while back, so I don't know if I've missed much on the

Blue Templar angle,

but I'm losing faith in it now. It's not badly made, it's just quite plain and middle of the road. Easy on the brain. Not wrong with that, and I'm not expecting another Shield or Wire to come along any time soon, but it in a sea of CSIs I was hoping we might get something different. Maybe even another Homicide: LOTS or Murder One some day. As Mekhi Abundant Fibula says, it ties things up within the hour and I think I'm about done with that formula.

The Black Oil

Quite tempted to ditch now. I don't think I can stomach the kidnapping of a minor being run through the procedural setup. In addition, most the one week characters - suspects and victims, are utterly forgettable. The leads have little to no interaction with colleagues on their unit, or a superior who has any dramatic weight and their squad room is a little lacking. OK, so it doesn't have time for colleagues when it's got the family stuff going on, but...ya know, two people can't save the world every week.

Eoin

I've given up on it; I think it's very weak. I wasn't expecting The Wire by any means, but as someone who can watch Cold Case and Law & Order pretty frequently, I was hoping for more.

Selleck's character is just too bloody perfect, and I think the tipping point for me was

Grandpaw Reagan going nuts about a cop being up for promotion just because he left his wife. The same cop who saved his son's life in the line of duty.

. The 30 seconds in each episode given to the ongoing plot

(blue knights of the round templar or something)

isn't really keeping me in enough suspense to continue with it.

I'd like to see Wahlburg in a stronger role though, he does a good job with a really crappy script.

DeWitt

Okay so after the all the advertising RTE have been running for this I decided I couldn't wait until Tuesday, and I'm now up to episode 10. Really loving it, the cast are fantastic and they really got the family dynamic down. So far though they've been riding a fine line between cop procedural and family drama. I'd prefer it focus on the family & character development more(apparently so does Selleck). And as long as Magnum gets his way S2's showrunners should do just fine.

shinny

DeWitt wrote: »

Okay so after the all the advertising RTE have been running for this I decided I couldn't wait until Tuesday, and I'm now up to episode 10. Really loving it, the cast are fantastic and they really got the family dynamic down. So far though they've been riding a fine line between cop procedural and family drama. I'd prefer it focus on the family & character development more(apparently so does Selleck). And as long as Magnum gets his way S2's showrunners should do just fine.

I agree, I love this show. I was surprised by some of the comments on here to be honest. This gets pretty solid ratings in the States too.

With The Closer in it's final season this year, I've found my replacement for that show ;-)

JP Liz V1

Starts on RTE 2 tonight

DeWitt

No boards love for Blue Bloods Irish premiere? I'm kind of shocked. I thought it was a very solid pilot.

Mindkiller

I thought it was hopeless. Very by the numbers.

It depends too much on expository dialogue to drive a point. Example being how they establish the tension between the judiciary (sister) and police (brother) at the dinner table. Very hammy and forced, especially compared to how The Wire and, dare I say, The Shield handles the same issues.

Speaking of the latter, I found this pilot had an awful lot in common with The Shield pilot with its pedophilia story. Except this one was worse.

Also, like another poster said, there are way too many silly plot contrivances for one episode. That crap with the prototype doll was particularly hard to swallow.

Conor108

I gave up after the second episode and switched to Breakout Kings, haven't looked back. Recommend it for the many people who seem to have dropped this:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r96PpPHYoMo

The Black Oil

It's far too clean in terms of storytelling, characters, etc. Pretty unremarkable.

squonk

It's a great series overall but by the end of Season 1 I was getting a bit fed up that it looked like the Reagans were protecting NYC single handed! As for the episode where they set up an electronic surveilance operation, too much like the wire and they shouldn't have gone there because it emphasised how 'light' Blue Bloods is in comparison.

I got a bit tired of storylines like 'Danny finds body, questions girlfriend finds that body owed money to gangster who's on the run. Rookie cop gets called out to handle a domestic and soon finds out it's gangster. Somehow going on, sister and Dad get pulled into the case in different aspects'. Honestly, it's NYC so the NYPD have to be working on oodles of different cases. The other bit I found a bit odd was that Commissioner Dad gets called about every little thing, even if it's the middle of the night. Now, if there's a cop down or something, sure, that'd make sense but, come on! Some of the stuff was ridiculous. Also, they never went anywhere with the storyline involving the journalist he was knocking off in the early episodes. I thought that might be a recurring issue as in, the commissioner's public and private side and what he could say/couldn't say.

All in all though it really isn't a bad series. It needs some work but hopefuly they'll tend to that for Series 2.

Richard Dower

First season 2 promo: http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/09/blue-bloods-season-2-first-promo.html

DeWitt

Bridget looks amazing. I'm really hoping this year they extend the scope of the show and not have it so serialized. The Blue Templer storyline could have been awesome, but they wasted it.

Kiwi_knock

Just after watching the first episode of the second series. It was a good enough opener to the series. I liked the scenes between Frank and the mayor, plus Jamie hanging out around the bar. His involvement with the mob should be interesting, I am hoping the story is done well and not rushed like the Blue Templar storyline.

I was getting a bit worried that there would be no dinner table discussion but luckily there was one at the end.

It should be a good season

Richard Dower

Did blazing numbers on Friday, got a 2.0 demo....but BB skews VERY old in viewership, but it's a sure fire hit for Fridays.

The Black Oil

The season 2 opener was OK, started off well and then became a little annoying. Some suggestions of child abuse/trafficking (the very pink bedroom), which could have been explored more, but wasn't. Thought it was a bit ridiculous that the grieving widow wasn't er, very grief stricken and is later seen wandering the sunny streets of NYC with Erin and the 'my boys need me twice as much now' or whatever line. Jamie's still awfully green to be going undercover with the mob, but that's dramatic license for ya.

Don't think it will make it into my weekly viewing, but we'll see.

Kiwi_knock

I thought the latest episode was very good, Donnie Wahlberg is great as Danny.

DaraghMAC

I like this show. It could go a lot deeper considering it had 22 episodes and although I had a bit of a go at the Black oil for some of his observations, I also do agree that it is a bit too clean and Sellecks carachter is a little too perfect, but it is easy to watch and should get better. If you take away all the high production stuff it is a little similar to NYPD Blue in that essentially it is character based and sometimes the crime is just a sideshow! I do agree that a little more squad house interaction would improve the show. I'll keep watching this as at the end of the day it doesnt take a lot of effort and the characters are easy to like. That might even be a problem!! When there is a character you really hate you watch waiting for to be put to the sword in the end, and that is missing!!

Richard Dower

Deadline is reporting that the show WILL be picked up for a third series either today or in the coming days: http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/blue-bloods-picked-up-for-third-season-as-cbs-nears-renewals-on-other-series/

kerry4sam

Series #2 starts tonight on RTE2 at 9pm

JP Liz V1

Peter Hermann aka Mr. Mariska Hargitay has been cast as Erin’s ex and Nicky's dad

Richard Dower

Season 3 kicks off tonight...