JokersUpdates.com: Blue Bloods - Ask Matt: Haven’t We Seen This Before?

Haven’t We Seen This Before?

Question: Am I the only one rolling my eyes over the “reboot” of Blue Bloods, except in a new city and with a different religion? Boston Blue has the same family drama, cop dynamics, and family dinners, but with different prayers. It’s like the network decided to diversify dinnertime conversations. Did they really think no one would notice that it’s literally the same premise with different holidays? If they were trying to recreate its success, why cancel Blue Bloods and replace it with something that feels so far below its standard? — Grace

Matt Roush: This is why they call it formula TV, and no one is more proficient, or at least prolific, in the practice than CBS. I’m not going to rehash the long and tortured debate in this column and elsewhere over the financial reasons why CBS ended Blue Bloods after 14 seasons, but they’re not trying to “fool” anyone with its successor. It’s hardly subtle in how the show so quickly introduced, through Danny’s new partner, a new family (the Silvers) who are remarkably like the Reagans in holding key positions in Boston law enforcement, from rookie patrol officer to district attorney, and who gather for weekly family dinner.

Hewing so transparently to formula carries risks, mostly because of the tendency of those still and unsurprisingly unforgiving of Blue Bloods’ departure to unfavorably compare the two. But it’s paid off for now, at least according to the network, which recently touted the series as the #1 new drama of the fall season — not that there was a lot of competition, given broadcast TV’s depleted state. Averaging a respectable 8 million viewers in multiplatform 7-day viewing, it ranks only behind Tracker, Matlock, NCIS, and Elsbeth among CBS’s hourlong shows, and those air on nights with far wider viewership. Will it ever generate the fan loyalty and love of Blue Bloods? Probably not, but when that show premiered, network TV was a very different place.

https://www.tvinsider.com/1230381/ask-matt-boston-blue-dmv-pluribus-greys-anatomy-alls-fair/?utm_source=TV+Insider%3A+Main&utm_campaign=3fbe39af51-THE_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3576f8ead4-3fbe39af51-15883794

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