Hollywood legend Tom Selleck was left devastated when CBS canceled his popular show Blue Bloods at the end of last year after fourteen seasons. Selleck spent much of the past year trying to save Blue Bloods while openly criticizing CBS for canceling the beloved program.
That’s why it’s come as a surprise that as the final eight episodes begin airing, Selleck is taking the high road and issuing a thank you to CBS.
Selleck Thanks CBS
The final eight episodes of Blue Bloods, which has been on since 2010, began airing last Friday. The night before, Selleck spoke out to thank CBS for allowing them to have these eight final episodes, rather than simply canceling the show altogether.
“These eight shows that we can look forward to are because CBS agreed and wanted to do that and celebrate – not only celebrate Blue Bloods but commemorate its legacy,” said Selleck, 79. “And I just wanted to thank them.”
That’s quite the turnaround from his previous attitude towards the network.
The former Magnum P.I. star went on to say that he still has “great faith” in broadcast television as a whole, in our age of streaming.
“I have great faith and have had great faith in broadcast television,” he said. “I think it’s suffered from being put in second or third place. And, you know, I don’t think everybody in the world wants to spend an hour on their remote control looking for what they might want to see.”
Related: Tom Selleck Broke Down In Tears Watching Donnie Wahlberg’s Final ‘Blue Bloods’ Scene
Blue Bloods Is ‘Appointment’ Television
Selleck then said that he’s proud that Blue Bloods became “an appointment” for fans.
“That was hard at ten o’clock at night … That’s rare,” he continued. “And, as much as anything, it’s a reflection of the work we do. And that’s kind of the ultimate compliment.”
It really is. Consider the late hour, and the fact that people can now pull up pretty much any show they want, whenever they want. That’s how popular Blue Bloods is!
“I think we’re aware of the enormous amount of cliches in series television,” Selleck explained. “And we comment on them, and we bring them up, and by commenting on them it really helps with the audience because you’re, again, sharing something. Magnum had a voice-over narration.”
“We have an audience, that, by the time we sit down to the family dinner they know an awful lot of secrets that maybe everyone at that table does not know,” he stated. “And that’s the sense of discovery … ‘Hey, wait till he hears that.'”
While Selleck is thankful to CBS, he is still sad about the decision to cancel Blue Bloods.
“We’d be working about now on the schedule, and I really miss that,” Selleck lamented. “But what I miss most is my friends, my actor family.”
“That opportunity that we had, that gift of once, every eight working days, seeing everybody,” he added. “You could always look forward to that. It’s two families – the Reagan family and the acting family.”
Selleck Hoped CBS Would ‘Come To Their Senses’
Selleck spent months desperately trying to save Blue Bloods from cancellation.
“I will continue to think that CBS will come to their senses,” he told CBS News back in May. “We’re the third-highest scripted show in all of broadcast. We’re winning the night. All the cast wants to come back. And I can tell you this: we aren’t sliding off down a cliff. We’re doing good shows, and still holding our place. So, I don’t know. You tell me!”
Selleck was still voicing his “frustration” with CBS earlier this month.
“If you were to say to the television network, ‘Here’s a show you can program in the worst time slot you got, and it is going to guarantee you winning Friday night for the next 15 years,’ it would be almost impossible to believe,” he recently said. “My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go.”
It appears that Selleck is now going with a different approach and is taking the high road with CBS. The next episode of Blue Bloods airs on Friday night at 10pm on CBS. Please tune in so we can show the network just how popular Blue Bloods really is!
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