Celebrity / TV

‘Blue Bloods’: The Episode That Affected Tom Selleck the Most

Blue Bloods star Tom Selleck has been playing the role of Police Commissioner Frank Reagan since the show began in 2010. Here’s the episode he says affected him the most. Tom Selleck says this part of the job challenges him In a special interview with CBS, Selleck says he’s challenged by the dilemmas his character …

by Sheiresa Ngo

Published on October 9, 2019

3 min read

Tom Selleck says this part of the job challenges him

Tom Selleck on the set of Blue Bloods. | Patrick Harbron/CBS via Getty Images

In a special interview with CBS, Selleck says he’s challenged by the dilemmas his character tackles in each episode, but it’s a part of the job that he loves. “Playing command, the pressure of command, is kind of an abstraction. I’m not tackling people and shooting people and cuffing people. I’m dealing with dilemmas, and that’s the challenge of the part that I love so much,” said Selleck.

Tom Selleck says this is the real dilemma faced in ‘Blue Bloods’

Will Estes as Jamie and Vanessa Ray as Eddie Janko on Blue Bloods | John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images

The Blue Bloods characters must remain cool under pressure and navigate some tricky situations. However, Selleck tells CBS the toughest dilemma on the show is navigating relationships. “The real jeopardy in Blue Bloods is to the relationships,” said Selleck. “The audience doesn’t want anything to happen to the relationships. This season they are really at risk.” One episode that likely comes to mind is in season nine, episode 22, titled “Something Blue,” where Erin and Janko clash over a police report that contains major discrepancies. Janko feels Erin is taking a stranger’s word over hers, which leads to some relationship strain.

‘Blue Bloods’ isn’t a show meant to give you all the feels

Lauren Patten as Officer Rachel Witten, Stephanie Kurtzuba as Sergeant McNichols, and Vanessa Ray as Eddie Janko | Patrick Harbron/CBS via Getty Images

One of the Blue Bloods producers says the show tackles real issues, and it isn’t mean to always give the audience a warm feeling. “It’s not just a show where everybody is real sentimental and everybody is all huggy and lovey-dovey at the end. Especially the Frank storylines; they’re serious.”

Although Blue Bloods isn’t always sentimental, there was a moment when warm, fuzzy feelings were expected. Selleck told CBS there was a different feeling on the set during the filming of Jamie and Eddie’s wedding because the attendees weren’t just extras, but recurring cast members. “The vibe’s different on the set because just about every recurring cast member is in that church,” Selleck said in his CBS interview. “In the past, on Blue Bloods we’ve done funerals and different things at a church where there was a huge amount of people, but this is unlike anything we’ve ever done,” added Donnie Wahlberg.

The ‘Blue Bloods’ episode that affected Tom Selleck the Most

Tom Selleck | John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images

Selleck said the episode that had a deep impact on him was “Milestones,” which aired during season nine in episode 12. In this episode, Frank bumps into officer Rachel Whitten. Frank felt guilty when he learned that after he fired her, Whitten had to earn money by waiting tables. Officer Whitten happened to be serving Frank’s table during one of his morning coffee runs.

Selleck said the episode stuck with him. “After we did the show, it’s a very good episode, [Frank] has to fire [Whitten] and he deeply regrets that. But it stuck with me, Tom, and it stuck with Frank,” said Selleck. “Trying to put that right was a personal journey for Frank. There’s no real way to do it, and [Frank] said, ‘I don’t care; we’re going to do it.” Story Editor Allie Solomon said she wrote the episode where Whitten was fired, but the decision to bring Whitten’s character back was mostly because of Selleck.