Blue Bloods season 9: An inside look at family dinner

If there is one thing that makes Blue Bloods iconic and different from the majority of the shows that are out there, it is the family dinner scenes. They are the forefront of every episode and often, they are the only time we see all of the main characters get together. It’s a chance for them to discuss what they are going through and, beyond just that, to air out some of their differences.

As it turns out, though, there are a number of different things that go into family dinner that you may not be altogether aware of. Take, for example, the simple fact that it takes a solid six to eight hours in order to film some of these. There’s a fascinating video look at these dinner celebrations over at CBS 58, an affiliate out of Wisconsin. In this article, Tom Selleck is quoted with the following while talking about these particular scenes:

We embrace family dinner, the only problem is it takes 6 to 8 hours and you have to just keep eating the same old food.

Obviously, this requires a good pit of pacing yourself — you have to look like you’re eating when you are filming the show, but you can’t consume too many calories, too fast — otherwise, the entire Reagan family would start looking sick during some of these scenes! There are a lot of potatoes, salads, vegetables, and dinner rolls that go into making these scenes look authentic, and while it is a lot of work having to sit at this table for so long every episode, there is also a great deal of appeal in it for viewers. As Selleck explains, this takes many in the audience back to a very specific time in their lives:

Most people don’t have the time for that anymore, or they never had it and they wish they did, or they had it once and they can’t do it anymore and I think all that is part of the nostalgia of enjoying that.

This year, family dinner has faced more changes than we’ve seen in a rather long time, mostly because Danny’s son Jack has headed off to school; meanwhile, Vanessa Ray’s Eddie has officially joined the dinner table after getting engaged and with that, she brings a different element that we haven’t seen before. (The hardest blow was losing Linda, as Amy Carlson departed the series at the end of season 7.)

Blue Bloods is off this week because of Thanksgiving / Black Friday — be sure to enjoy the time with your own families!

What do you enjoy the most about Blue Bloods and its family dinners? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments.

(Photo: CBS.)