Blue Bloods: Family drama spices up crime-busting formula

MANILA, Philippines - At a time when crime dramas like CSI and NCIS seem to be gearing for exits and all those Law And Order episodes have exhausted their replays, I am thankful there is a show like Blue Bloods. I know, variations of its weekly episodes have already been pounded to near inanity by many other shows. You know, NYC, cops, lawyers, district attorneys, a chase or two, some fights etc. and for some heart-tuggings, a death once in a while. Not much in it that we have not seen before.

But the creators of Blue Bloods, which is now on its fourth season and airs Sunday evenings on AXN, have added something strongly appealing to the formula. Along with the crime-busting, it is also a family drama. The Reagans, from great grandpa to little boys, sit down together to dinner after Sunday Mass every week and bring into focus what they think and how they relate to the incidents of that particular episode. With this device, the show imparts moral lessons every week, extoling the value of strong family ties and of the commitment to do what is right.

And present on those dinners are two of the most watchable men who ever graced television, Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg. As father and son, these two must be the most upstanding men on TV these days. I do not really know what is happening, but I think the portrayal of men in today’s TV shows has become oddly complex and degrading. It must be because producers now equate their use of amoral characters with being matured or edgy and innovative.

So what do we viewers get? A serial killer in Dexter; a bigoted, faithless liar in Mad Men; mobsters in Sopranos; a drug-addled sleuth in Elementary; a meth-dealing teacher in Breaking Bad; corrupt politicians in House of Cards; plus those assortments of vampires, zombies, whatever. It is no wonder then that the cops of Law and Order and the scientists of CSI now look like knights in shining armor.

And that is just what I would call the men of Blue Bloods and we can certainly use more heroes like them on TV. Selleck, wonderfully matured from his legendary Magnum P. I. days, is imposing as ever and still sports that famous moustache. I say he does have shoulders broad enough to support his whole family and when called for, the entire city. He is Frank Reagan, NYC’s police commissioner, a position previously held by his father, and which might later pass on to one of his children. The Reagans are either cops or lawyers, and Frank and his children are often faced with the dilemma of having to choose between the law and the city on one side and their families on the other.

Wahlberg, ex-member of New Kids On The Block, who was great in Boomtown and Band of Brothers, and unforgettable in Sixth Sense, plays his oldest son, Dannie, an NYPD detective whose impatience with law-breakers often gets him into trouble. His sister Erin, played by Bridget Moynahan of Sex and the City and I Robot, is a highly-principled assistant district attorney. The youngest, idealistic brother is Jamie played by Will Estes of American Dream. He studied law in Harvard but gave it up in favor of becoming a cop. And the patriarch Henry, after whom Frank and his sons clearly took after, is played by Len Cariou of Into The Storm.

As a crime drama, everything in Blue Bloods is fairly straightforward with the usual suspects to put away. The same thing goes for Blue Bloods as a family drama with problems like work, money, kids growing up, spouses both estranged and not, and in Frank’s case, dating once in a while. You can say that the Reagans are a normal Irish Catholic family with law enforcement as their business. And it is when this combination comes to play that Blue Bloods shines. The show is now on its fourth season.

I marvel most at the writing, which weaves actually two different shows into one entertaining whole with enough room for so many characters to come together and grow. But then, this should not really come as a surprise because the people behind Blue Bloods also did the acclaimed Sopranos.

Selleck is brilliant and has the most remarkable presence. So is Wahlberg. I say the same for Cariou. And everybody else. Here is one case wherein everybody excels because the actors come across as utterly believable as a family, loving, fighting and ever protective of each other. Of course, it does not hurt that they are also great to look at. Watch this and enjoy.