‘Blue Bloods’ season 7, episode 11 preview: When will Donnie Wahlberg, cast return?

Given that both “MacGyver” and “Hawaii Five-0” are going to be airing new episodes on CBS next week, we of course were hopeful that “Blue Bloods” would also be turning up with a new episode. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

According to the Futon Critic, the next new episode of the show is entitled “Genetics,” and it’s going to be airing on Friday, January 6. This is a date that makes a whole lot of sense to us, given that this is when the show, starring Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck, often tends to come back in the new year. The network does like to take advantage of these times early on in the new year, given that there is not necessarily a lot of substantial competition out there and they can bite on that successfully to get some solid ratings. (So far, the numbers remain pretty strong, and for those wondering, we’re confident about a season 8 renewal.)

Since it is so long between now and when the show is likely going to be coming back, we unfortunately don’t have a lot more information that we can share about the next story right now. With this title, though, we do have two different theories for what could be coming up. After all, speculation is fun!

1. Maybe this is a story about the scientific community, given that we don’t often see titles like that on this show. This would certainly be uncharted territory for a series that does often tend to surround itself with darker, grittier stories, so any chance to get a fish out of water is a chance to celebrate.

2. Maybe this is a story talking simply about the bloodline that connects all of the Reagans; maybe it’s in the genetics that makes them want to all be cops in the first place. Maybe this is a whole nature vs. nurture debate.

No matter what, we’ll be happy to have the series back in the new year.

(Photo: CBS.)