Beyond Blue Bloods season 8, how much more is there?
Let’s start, though, with a fairly simple profession: You really shouldn’t freak out or worry all that much about it right now, even if we understand why you would be tempted to. Even though this is a show that is currently in its eighth season and there’s always a reason to worry at around that time in a run, there doesn’t seem to be any immediate concern for the Donnie Wahlberg – Tom Selleck series.
For one, we like to think that we’re in an era now where shows start to announce their final season in advance. That doesn’t always happen, but it does take place more often than it doesn’t. If season 8 was the end, wouldn’t CBS confirm it? Isn’t this the sort of thing they could figure out in advance.
In terms of the ratings, there is also virtually zero reason to want to kick this show to the curb. Season 7 averaged a strong 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic (even in spite of the terrible timeslot that it’s in) and almost 10 million viewers. Those are outstanding numbers — Hawaii Five-0 may have been the #1 scripted Friday drama in the demo this past season, but it was close and it has a slightly cushier timeslot. This show has completely reinvented Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. for CBS, and they won’t get this same sort of numbers if they put anything else there. There’s little evidence of it working for other networks.
Blue Bloods is almost a tremendous model of consistency. Even though they were down about 8% in the demo year to year for season 7, season 6 was only down 4% from season 5, which was only down 8% from season 4. Typically, any show that keeps more than 90% of its audience year-to-year is considered an enormous winner, especially since so many options have crept up over the years since the start of Blue Bloods. Think about things this way: Back when the show first premiered, Netflix wasn’t known as a streaming titan, and Amazon and Hulu weren’t even on the mind when it comes to being streaming providers of original programming. People are still sticking with the Reagans.
The money problem
Maybe this is an issue that comes into play eventually. Shooting in New York is pricey, and that’s probably even more so with a cast of veteran actors including some big names like Wahlberg and Selleck. The longer the show lasts, the more expensive that it becomes — last year, Selleck didn’t even sign his contract until pretty close to production starting, and if there are more situations like that, we’ll start to get nervous.
Eventually, you do wonder if the show just doesn’t make the money that it used to, and that could be a cause for the end.
Can everyone stay together?
That’s the other main concern when it comes to the show’s longevity. If someone like Selleck were to ever leave, we’re not sure how the show moves forward since this is about the entire Reagan family and how they support each other. He is the anchor, and every episode has a big Frank component.
For the time being, though, we’re confident that there will be a Blue Bloods season 9 despite any other concerns. As long as it’s making money (which it seems to be) and the cast is all happy, there’s little reason to anticipate any other future for the show. You know the viewers are there.
How long do you think Blue Bloods could last on the air? Feel free to share more of your thoughts in the comments!
(Photo: CBS.)