I had very mixed feelings about the tv show Blue Bloods…

I liked the show in the early years. The premise was hokey--a multigenerational family in law enforcement, including two Commissioners, a detective, a rookie, and a powerful Assistant DA who have family Sunday dinner each week -- but an interesting theatrical device to give multiple views on dealing with a given story line that usually was aligned with events in the news. Granted, there was no truly liberal, progressive viewpoint at the table (what would you expect when the family business is law enforcement), but there was plenty of tension from four generations spanning the worst of old school policing to current policing to glimpses of potential police reform, and a prosecutor constantly challenging their methods and dealing with the political realities of her position.

It lost its way in the last few years, imho. As if they had fired the writers and had AI repackaging sequels of the same old stories. They got a brief fresh burst of creativity when Jamie got a female cop partner and wound up marrying her, and having to deal with the workplace issues around that. But I stopped watching about four years ago. Then again, it may be because I lost my partner, a former law enforcement chaplain, who was a big fan of the show. Watching it together and listening to her point out what rang true and what didn't was an added pleasure.

Donnie Wahlberg is a much better actor than his brother Mark, and Boston is his home turf. But politically, I would suspect a further swing right if anything in the sequel. Erin's political issues, given the ongoing turmoil of NYC politics in the Mayoral and DA offices, would be a far more interesting sequel, imho. Or Jamie and his wife, although the actor who plays Jamie is primarily a theatrical actor and only agreed to do this TV show because he was intrigued with the original concept.