Why Tom Selleck Thinks CBS is “Conflicted” about the End of ‘Blue Bloods’
“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”Just like all of us, Tom Selleck isn’t ready for Blue Bloods to come to an end.The long-running police procedural premiered in September 2010 and after 14 incredible seasons—nearly a decade and a half of air time—it’s set to say farewell in fall 2024. But is it really?
In an interview with TV Insider ahead of the season 14 premiere, Tom Selleck, who stars as police commissioner Frank Reagan and is an executive producer on the show, revealed that he’s not quite ready for a departure from the Friday-night series.
“CBS will find an awful lot of people aren’t ready to say goodbye to it,” Selleck said while discussing the end of an era. “We’re certainly not out of ideas.”
What’s more, he’s not ready to retire—despite being 79 years old. “I’m not counting the days so I can do something else,” Selleck told TV Insider. “I love the work. Sometimes the hours are a little harder because I’m older, but so what? I want work as long as they’ll have me.”
As it currently stands, with the series finale looming in the distance, the show’s ending remains to be determined. Ahead of the 14th and final season, executive producer Kevin Wade revealed to USA Today that the show’s writers had yet to land on the impending perfect ending for the series this fall.
“We’ll have to figure out how to deliver a satisfying and emotional final episode without spending three months trying to tee it up,” he admitted. “These characters need to move forward in their fictional jobs and grow. We have to deliver 18 good episodes.”
In that way, the end of an era might feel emotional to viewers but won’t be illustrated as such on screen. “Whatever happens, it’s not going to be a whole season of endless soap operas winding down,” Selleck told USA Today.
Notice how he said, “whatever happens”? Selleck still doesn’t seem to be convinced that this is the end. “They say it’s an eight-episode wind-down, and I say, ‘We’ll see,'” Selleck chuckled to USA Today. “Look, I’ll do whatever is best for the whole situation. But I love this show, obviously. And I think CBS is going to end up being very conflicted with their present plans.”
Selleck’s upcoming memoir (set to release May 7)—which he’s yet to finish but is currently available for pre-order on Amazon—is titled “You Never Know.” Is that a reference to what could happen with Blue Bloods, as well? Only time will tell.
NKOTB Fans Are Trying to Save ‘Blue Bloods’What We Know About Tom Selleck’s Memoir
Selleck’s first television appearance was as a college senior on The Dating Game in 1965 and again in 1967. Soon after, he appeared in commercials for products such as Pepsi-Cola.
He began his career with bit parts in smaller movies, including Myra Breckinridge (invited on the set by Mae West),[17] Coma, and The Seven Minutes. He appeared in a number of TV series, mini-series and TV movies. He was also the face of Salem cigarettes and Revlon’s Chaz cologne.[17] Selleck appeared in a commercial for Right Guard deodorant in 1971, with Farrah Fawcett in 1972 for the aperitif Dubonnet, and another in 1977 for the toothpaste Close-Up. He was also in a Safeguard deodorant soap commercial (1972). In 1972, he starred in the B-movie Daughters of Satan. He had a recurring role in the 1970s as private investigator Lance White in The Rockford Files.
Selleck is an avid outdoorsman, marksman and firearms collector. These interests led him to leading-man cowboy roles in Western films, starting with his role as cowboy and frontier marshal Orrin Sackett in the 1979 film The Sacketts, opposite Sam Elliott, Jeff Osterhage, and Western legends Glenn Ford and Ben Johnson, and that same year, Concrete Cowboys with Jerry Reed. The Shadow Riders followed in 1982. Then Selleck shifted gears, portraying a cat burglar in 1930s London in Lassiter in 1984. Quigley Down Under is one of his best-known Western films, but it was for his 1997 role in Last Stand at Saber River that he won a “Western Heritage Award”.
Magnum stardom
Selleck’s big break came when he was cast in the lead role as Thomas Magnum in Magnum, P.I. The producers would not release the actor for other projects, so Selleck had to pass on the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which meant that the role went to actor Harrison Ford instead. It turned out that the shooting of the pilot for Magnum was delayed for over six months by a writers’ strike, which would have enabled him to complete Raiders.[18]
Look, I made a deal with Magnum, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m proud that I lived up to my contract, and some people said, “You’ve got to get into a car and drive into a brick wall and get injured and get out of Magnum and do [Raiders].” I said, “I gotta look my mom and dad in the eye, and we don’t do that,” so I did Magnum… That’s not so bad, is it?
