Blue Bloods’ Best Asset May Have Been To Blame For CBS’ Cancelation

CBS’ decision to cancel Blue Bloods might have been because of its best asset. The Tom Selleck-led police and family drama was one of CBS’ highest-rated dramas for fourteen years, including its final season. Over 11 million people watched the Blue Bloods series finale, which was an impressive number considering the show’s age and timeslot. The series ended with the final Blue Bloods Reagan family dinner, demonstrating how important this aspect of the series was.

Although there was a massive fan-led movement to save Blue Bloods, CBS stood firm by its decision to cancel the long-running police procedural. The network’s reasons for doing so were mostly financial, as Blue Bloods was more expensive to produce than other shows. There were a variety of reasons for the expense, including that the series was filmed in New York and that it had a large cast that remained with the show for all fourteen seasons.

Blue Bloods Has Maintained Its Core Cast Throughout Its Run

Most Long-Running Shows Have Significant Cast Turnover

Blue Bloods is different from other long-running procedurals such as Law & Order: SVU in that it maintained the same core cast throughout its run. This is unusual for a series that ran for over a decade. In many cases, talent wants to move on after five or more years on the same TV show, leading to cast turnover. Thus, the longest-running projects usually have a few, if any, original cast members left by the time they hit the ten-year mark.

In Blue Bloods’ case, however, there were few major cast departures over the years. The cast was so loyal to the series that it was often surprising to realize that Baez (Marisa Ramirez) and Eddie (Vanessa Ray) only joined in season 4. Baez was a replacement for Danny’s original partner, Jackie (Jennifer Esposito) after Esposito had a health issue that precluded her continued involvement in the series. The only other significant change took place in season 8, when Amy Carlson declined to renew her contract and thus Linda was said to have died in a helicopter crash off-screen.

How An Intact Ensemble Made Blue Bloods More Expensive

Long-Running Cast Members Always Command Higher Salaries Than New Actors

While Blue Bloods’ intact ensemble cast was a testimony to the family atmosphere both on and off-screen, it also made the show less affordable. Actors typically get pay raises every year, so talent who has been with a series for over a decade will be more expensive to hire than those who have only been with the show for a few years. There were five main members of Blue Bloods‘ cast and six secondary members, all of whom needed to be paid at higher rates — and additionally, Tom Selleck is a high-profile actor who likely commanded an even higher salary.

These high costs are responsible for many shows ending after seven years when production and talent budgets tend to skyrocket (via Deadline). Blue Bloods lasted twice as long as several other popular series, such as Young Sheldon and The Good Doctor. However, the price tag for this procedural — including payment for its large cast — was still so high that Blue Bloods‘ cast and crew’s agreement to take a 25% pay cut for season 14 wasn’t enough to make the show affordable.

Why It’s Difficult For Blue Bloods To Rotate Its Cast

The Series’ Commitment to Family Required The Full Cast

Most other procedurals use cast rotation to help offset costs. Rather than all cast members appearing in every episode, a limited number of people appear each time, with some characters disappearing for several episodes at a time. For example, FBI season 7 wrote Jubal (Jeremy Sisto) out temporarily after he was suspended from duty, while Law & Order: SVU newcomer Kat Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) disappeared without explanation for several episodes after her introduction.

It would have been impossible for Blue Bloods to utilize this cost-cutting measure, however. The only characters who could be written in and out without disrupting the show’s brand were Frank’s colleagues at 1 Police Plaza; Sid, Abigail, or Garrett could have been said to be occupied elsewhere during a meeting. However, these were more minor characters.

It would have contradicted the series’ commitment to family values for characters to skip the Reagan family dinner, so the closest the series could come to cast rotation was utilizing them only in that scene. Every Reagan thus appeared in the iconic Blue Bloods family dinner scenes even if they didn’t have storylines that week. When fan-favorite characters like Jamie didn’t have storylines, it threw the series out of balance, further demonstrating that cast rotation did not work well for this show.