"Blue Bloods" Renewed at CBS
by Nellie Andreeva
April 15, 2021


CBS has picked up veteran drama "Blue Bloods" for its 12th season.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/ncis-ncis-blue-bloods-bull-magnum-p-i-s-w-a-t-renewed-cbs-mark-harmon-1234735150/

Thanks for the awesome news!

God bless you always!!!

Holly

I'd say this is good news!!

In 2018-2019 I really started to feel this show had lost it's direction. It seemed to be preoccupied with feelings instead of thought.

But in the last year they seem to have regained their former cleverness. Full steam ahead!

Blue Bloods' Season 11 finale was designed as a potential series finale (https://deadline.com/2021/05/blue-bloods-spoilers-recap-season-finale-tom-selleck-kevin-wade-interview-cbs-1234756119/)

Showrunner Kevin Wade was told before Thanksgiving that the Season 11 finale would comprise of two episodes airing back to back. So he assumed that the scheduling meant CBS planned to end the series. "Yeah, so I started to think about how do we do something that could serve as a season finale but also if need be as a series finale," he tells Deadline. "We went back to the end of the first season where all the Reagans became involved in finding out and catching and bringing to justice the bad cops who killed Joe Reagan who is of course, Joe Hill’s father. And it was kind of a callback to that, just in case it was a series finale it would have a circle to it."

^^^ To me, that was a good strategy. Thankfully the show was renewed. :) :) :)

God bless you and those who make it happen always!!!

Holly

so I started to think about how do we do something that could serve as a season finale but also if need be as a series finale," "

I thought the 2 hour extravaganza was good entertainment. Among the best of the entire series. But the scene where the 3 boys grabbed automatic weapons and dispatched the bad guys was kinda jumping the shark a little bit.

I loved the season finale, tense. Loved see Joe at the dinner table.

Blue Bloods' Season 11 finale was designed as a potential series finale (https://deadline.com/2021/05/blue-bloods-spoilers-recap-season-finale-tom-selleck-kevin-wade-interview-cbs-1234756119/)

Showrunner Kevin Wade was told before Thanksgiving that the Season 11 finale would comprise of two episodes airing back to back. So he assumed that the scheduling meant CBS planned to end the series. "Yeah, so I started to think about how do we do something that could serve as a season finale but also if need be as a series finale," he tells Deadline. "We went back to the end of the first season where all the Reagans became involved in finding out and catching and bringing to justice the bad cops who killed Joe Reagan who is of course, Joe Hill’s father. And it was kind of a callback to that, just in case it was a series finale it would have a circle to it."

As someone pointed out to me Kevin Wade only ASSUMED CBS was going to end the show this season - CBS never said anything to him either way till production wrapped on the final episodes - keep in mind he was told to do a 2-parter for the end of the season before the show even started airing this season (The show started in December of 2020 this season) plus there were those frequent built-in repeat weeks to allow for the slightly longer production window per episode due to Covid-19.

CBS knew how it was going to program the season - including repeat weeks for all their shows. So planning in advance is not surprising. Was the show at risk to end? Who knows - the ratings/demos have dropped, but it still does well streaming (CBS and P+) and on-demand.

Except for MacGyver which got 15 episodes, and NCIS:LA getting 18, all the CBS Studio shows got 16 episodes for the 2020-2021 season. Episode counts varied on the other full-season shows not produced/co-produced by CBS Studios due to contracts.

I've seen it said that season twelve will begin on October 1st. :) :) :)

God bless you always!!!

Holly