The first season of '' Blue Bloods'', an American

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

–

family drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

, aired in the United States on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

between September 24, 2010 to May 13, 2011. The series was created and along with Leonard Goldberg and Michael Cuesta, executively produced by

Robin Green Robin Green is an American writer and producer. She was an executive producer on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. She was a creator and executive producer for '' Blue Bloods''. Biography A Rhode Island native, Robin Green earned a Bachelor of ...

and

Mitchell Burgess Mitchell Burgess is an American writer and producer. He was the writer and an executive producer on ''The Sopranos''. He was a creator and executive producer for '' Blue Bloods''. He frequently works with his wife Robin Green. Career ''The Sopr ...

. The show revolves around the Reagan family, consisting of the retired police commissioner, current police commissioner, police officers, and an assistant district attorney, all working with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Actors

Donnie Wahlberg Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, record producer, and film producer. He is a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. Outside music, he has had roles in the ''Saw ...

Bridget Moynahan Kathryn Bridget Moynahan (born April 28, 1971) is an American actress and model. Moynahan is best known for her role as Erin Reagan in the police drama '' Blue Bloods''. She graduated from Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts in 1989 and be ...

Will Estes William Estes (; born October 21, 1978) is an American actor known for his role on CBS police drama '' Blue Bloods'' as Jameson "Jamie" Reagan, a New York City Police Department officer and the youngest son of the police commissioner, played by ...

Len Cariou Leonard Joseph Cariou (; born September 30, 1939) is a Canadian actor and Theatre director, stage director, best known for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'', for which he wo ...

and

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations f ...

make up the main cast as the Reagan family—Danny, Erin, Jamie, Henry and Frank. ''Blue Bloods'' first season aired during the 2010–11 television season on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. EST. The series debuted with the pilot episode, which was viewed by 13.01 million viewers. The season ended with the finale "The Blue Templar", which was watched by 11.79 million viewers. The season averaged 12.58 million viewers per 22 episodes. Internationally, the first season was very successful in Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand, ranking among the top 30 most watched programs on the respective channels. The first season also garnered positive reviews from television critics, praising the performances of lead actors

and

and the family dynamic among the Reagans. A running theme through the first season is Jamie's assumption of Joe's investigation. The FBI tried to recruit Jamie, but instead he conducted his own covert investigation into Joe's murder. The corrupt cops were operating within a fraternal organization called the "Blue Templar", and murdered Joe when his covert investigation was getting close to exposing names. Joe's assailants attempt to kill Jamie by sabotaging the brakes in his car; however, this effort backfired. After the failed hit, Jamie informs Frank, Danny, and grandfather Henry about the results of his informal investigation. Along with Frank's prosecutor daughter Erin, the Reagan family completes Joe's Blue Templar investigation. After gathering sufficient evidence to obtain arrest warrants, Frank personally leads a squad of police officers, including Danny and Jamie, to execute the warrant. They arrest the corrupt cops while they are having a covert meeting to divide stolen drug money. The group's leader, a detective named Sonny Malevsky, admits to killing Joe. After his confession, Malevsky commits suicide with his service pistol. The entire season was released on DVD in Region 1 on September 13, 2011, Region 2 on September 19, 2011 and Region 4 on September 15, 2011.

Production

The first season of ''Blue Bloods'' was produced by Panda Productions, Paw In Your Face Productions and

CBS Productions CBS Productions, Inc. was a production arm of the CBS television network (an initialism of Columbia Broadcasting System, along with its parent company CBS Television Studios, Inc.; the radio network was founded in 1927), now a part of Paramount Gl ...

. The series aired in the United States on

Friday nights at 10:00 P.M. EST and Canada on CTV via

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

. Internationally, season one aired in New Zealand on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

Saturday nights at 9:30 P.M., in Australia on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

for the first twelve episodes (Wednesday nights at 8:30 P.M. for the first six and Friday nights at 9:30 P.M.) and on

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

for the rest of the season. In a deal with

CBS Studios International Paramount Global Distribution Group or Paramount Global Content Distribution is the international television distribution arm of American media conglomerate, Paramount Global, originally established in 1962 as the international distribution divis ...

, the series was acquired by the UK channel

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

on January 5, 2011 and was one of the first series to air on the new channel, which launched on February 1, 2011. The series was created by

and

executive produced Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

by Burgess, Green, producer Leonard Goldberg and director

Michael Cuesta Michael Cuesta (born July 8, 1963) is an American film and television director, best known for his independent films, specially for having co-written and directed the 2001 film, '' L.I.E.'' He has directed and produced television series including ...

. The show was initially run by director Ken Sanzel, but Sanzel left in August 2010 amid alleged creative tension with series star Tom Selleck. Staff directors for the season include Cuesta, Félix Alcalá,

Jan Eliasberg Jan Pringle Eliasberg (born January 6, 1954) is an American film, theatre, and television director and writer. Her debut novel, ''Hannah's War'', was published by Little, Brown in 2020 and has sold 50,000 copies to date. ''Hannah's War'' has been ...

Karen Gaviola Karen Gaviola is an American television producer and director. She is the winner of the 2007 NAACP Image Award for directing " The Whole Truth" episode of the ABC hit series ''Lost''. She was also nominated for the 2013 WIN (Women's Image Networ ...

Stephen Gyllenhaal Stephen Roark Gyllenhaal (; born October 4, 1949) is an American film director and poet. He is the father of actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Personal life Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Virginia Lowrie (née Childs) and ...

Ralph Hemecker Ralph W. Hemecker is an American director, writer, and producer. He directed episodes of the drama series ''Once Upon a Time'' and ''The Flash''. Career In 2000, Hemecker founded Mythic Films, a full service feature film, TV and commercial produc ...

Gwyneth Horder-Payton Gwyneth Horder-Payton is an American television director. Beginning in the late 1980s she worked as an assistant director on a number of films such as ''Pacific Heights'', ''The Doors'', ''Raising Cain'', '' I Love Trouble'', '' Homeward Bound ...

, Frederick K. Keller, Matt Penn,

John Polson John Polson (born 6 September 1965) is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. As an actor, Polson's best known role is probably starring opposite Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in '' The Sum of Us'' (1994). In February 2001, ...

Michael Pressman Michael Pressman is an American film and television producer and director. Early life A native of Manhattan, Pressman was born into a theatrical family. His mother, Sasha, a modern dancer, was an original member of Martha Graham's renowned fi ...

Rosemary Rodriguez Rosemary Rodriguez is an American film and television director. She directed the 2015 film '' Silver Skies'' starring George Hamilton. ''Acts of Worship'' In 2001 Rodriguez wrote, produced and directed a feature film called ''Acts of Worship ...

, and

Alex Zakrzewski Alexander Zakrzewski is an American television director and cinematographer. He has directed episodes of ''Cold Case'', ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''Numb3rs'' and ''The Wire'', as well as worked on s ...

. Episodes were written by a team of writers, which consisted of Burgess, Green, Brian Burns, Siobhan Byrne-O'Connor, Amanda Green,

Julie Hébert Julie Hébert (sometimes credited as Julie Hebert) is an American writer/director of theater, film and television. Biography Julie Hébert grew up in a small town on the Louisiana coast and many of her plays are set there. After college she moved ...

, Thomas Kelly, Gwendolyn M. Parker, Mark Rosner, Ken Sanzel, Diana Son, and

Kevin Wade Kevin Wade (born March 9, 1954) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Early life and career Wade was born in Chappaqua, New York, and attended Connecticut College. Before his writing career took off, Wade acted in two films for ...

. Cinematographers hired for the season included Craig DiBona, David Insley, Tim Ives and

Teodoro Maniaci Teodoro Maniaci is an American cinematographer and documentary director. He is best known for the directing ''One Nation Under God'', a documentary on the ex-gay movement. Personal life and education Maniaci was born and raised in Long Island ...

. Composers Mark Morgan and

Rob Simonsen Rob Simonsen is an American composer based in Los Angeles. Early life Simonsen began playing the piano by ear at an early age. His grandmother was a voice teacher and music was around him in his family home. He later studied music at Southern Or ...

provided the background music for the season.

Cast

The first season featured a cast of five main actors who received star billing.

portrays Francis "Frank" Reagan, the patriarch of the Reagan family, a former Marine, and current Police Commissioner who is notably silent about his political beliefs.

acted as Frank's eldest son Daniel "Danny" Reagan, a hard-nosed NYPD Detective and former Marine who often roughs up his suspects, despite being prohibited to do so.

portrays Frank's daughter Erin Reagan-Boyle, an assistant district attorney who abides by the law in her dealings with criminal justice.

portrayed Frank's youngest son Jamison "Jamie" Reagan, a rookie police officer and graduate from Harvard Law before entering the police academy.

played Frank's father Henry Reagan, a retired police commissioner and former Marine who, like Danny, is very vocal about his political beliefs. In addition to the regular cast, the season also featured actors who received the "also starring" billing, appearing in almost every episode of the season.

Jennifer Esposito Jennifer Esposito is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the feature films ''Summer of Sam'' (1999), ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001), ''Welcome to Collinwood'' (2002), as well as ''Crash'' and ''Taxi'' (both 2004). She has also appea ...

portrayed Jackie Curatola, an NYPD detective at the precinct and Danny's partner.

Nicholas Turturro Nicholas Turturro Jr. (born January 29, 1962) is an American actor, known for his roles in New York City based films and on the television series '' Blue Bloods'' and ''NYPD Blue''. He has collaborated with director Spike Lee since the late 1980s ...

portrayed Sergeant Anthony Renzulli, Jamie's partner and mentor, who had been a partner of Joe Reagan. Several recurring characters appeared in the first season.

Amy Carlson Amy Lynn Carlson (born July 7, 1968) is an American actress known for her roles as Linda Reagan in the CBS police procedural '' Blue Bloods,'' as Alex Taylor on the NBC drama ''Third Watch'', and Josie Watts in the NBC daytime soap opera ''Ano ...

appeared as Linda Reagan, Danny's wife and mother of two children Jack and Sean.

Sami Gayle Sami Gayle is an American actress. She co-stars as Nicky Reagan in the CBS series '' Blue Bloods''. Early life Gayle was born and raised in Weston, Florida.Abigail Hawk Abigail Hawk (born Abigail Diane Gustafson; April 18, 1982) is an American actress known for playing Samantha Bonner in the 1995 television series '' Reality Check'', Detective Abigail Baker in '' Blue Bloods'' (2010–present), and Ellie in '' ...

portrayed Abigail Baker, Frank's primary aide. Brothers Andrew and Tony Terraciano portray Sean and Jack Reagan, Danny and Linda's sons.

Gregory Jbara Gregory Jbara (; born September 28, 1961) is an American film, television, and stage actor, and a singer. Early life and education Jbara was born in Nankin Township (now Westland), Michigan, the son of an advertising office manager and an insura ...

acted as Garrett Moore, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Robert Clohessy Robert Clohessy (born June 10, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Correctional Officer Sean Murphy on the HBO prison drama '' Oz'' from seasons 3–6, in addition to playing Officer Patrick Flaherty on the NBC police proce ...

played Sgt. Sidney Gormley, the immediate supervisor of Danny and the other detectives at the precinct. Actress Dylan Moore appeared in the first eight episodes as Jamie's short-lasting fiancée Sydney Davenport.

Bruce Altman Bruce Altman (born July 3, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Early life Altman was born in The Bronx, New York. He is of Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish ...

portrayed Mayor Frank Russo, Frank's superior.

Andrea Roth Andrea Roth (born September 30, 1967) is a Canadian actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Janet Gavin, the wife of main character Tommy Gavin, on the FX television series '' Rescue Me'' (2004–2011), as Victoria Chase in ''The Co ...

appeared in four episodes as Kelly Davidson, a television news reporter who dated Frank. Yvonna Kopacz Wright portrayed Ava Hotchkiss, a detective at the precinct and Danny's temporary partner.

Noelle Beck Noelle Beck (born December 14, 1967, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American actress, best known for her role as Trisha Alden on the ABC daytime soap opera ''Loving''. Career Beck graduated from Baltimore School for the Arts. She portrayed ''Lov ...

appeared in three episodes as Frank's Deputy Press Secretary Sue Connors. Nick Sandow recurred in four episodes as Lieutenant Alex Bello, an officer at Internal Affairs.

Michael T. Weiss Michael Terry Weiss (born February 2, 1962) is an American actor known for his role as Jarod in the television series '' The Pretender''. Early life Michael Terry Weiss was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 2, 1962. His father was a steel i ...

portrayed Sonny Malevsky, a detective who had worked with Joe Reagan before his murder. Colleen Clinton appeared as Agent Anderson, an FBI agent who attempts to recruit Jamie for her investigation into the Blue Templar.

Bobby Cannavale Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in ''Third Watch'', ''Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in ''Will & Grace'', which wo ...

appeared in three episodes as Charles Rosselini, Erin's boss who becomes romantically involved with her.

Robert John Burke Robert John Burke (born September 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his roles in ''RoboCop 3'' (1993), '' Tombstone'' (1993), and '' Thinner'' (1996). During the 2000s Burke became well known for his portrayal of Mickey Gavin on '' Rescue ...

portrayed Jyle Hogan in three episodes.

Main cast

as Police Commissioner Francis "Frank" Reagan *

as Detective 1st Grade Daniel "Danny" Reagan *

as ADA Erin Reagan *

as Officer Jamison "Jamie" Reagan *

as Henry Reagan

Recurring cast

as Detective 1st Grade Jackie Curatola *

as Sergeant Sidney "Sid" Gormley *

Abigail Hawk Abigail Hawk (born Abigail Diane Gustafson; April 18, 1982) is an American actress known for playing Samantha Bonner in the 1995 television series '' Reality Check'', Detective Abigail Baker in '' Blue Bloods'' (2010–present), and Ellie in '' ...

as Detective 1st Grade Abigail Baker *

as Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Garrett Moore *

as Linda Reagan *

Sami Gayle Sami Gayle is an American actress. She co-stars as Nicky Reagan in the CBS series '' Blue Bloods''. Early life Gayle was born and raised in Weston, Florida.

Reception

Viewership and ratings

''Blue Bloods'' premiered with the pilot episode, which attracted 13.01 million viewers. After four episodes, the season received a full order of 22 episodes. The series was the most watched program on Friday nights during its duration and was the second most watched program during its short move to the Wednesday timeslot. Apart from the pilot episode, the most-watched episode of the season was "Little Fish", which accrued a viewership of 12.30 million viewers. The season finale was watched by 11.78 million viewers. The season averaged over 12.58 million viewers and a 7.8/14 household rating, becoming the 19th most-watched series of the 2010-2011 primetime television season. In the 18-49 adult demographic, the season averaged a 2.2

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

, equating to 2.88 million viewers and ranking number 85th for the 2010-2011 primetime television season. In Canada, ''Blue Bloods'' stood as a solid performer on CTV, landing within the top twenty of the top programs in Canada. The show ended its first season as the most watched new drama series as well as second most watched new series of the season. The season ranked number five in the 18-49 and 25-54 age demographics. In the United Kingdom, the series was among the weekly top five most viewed program on

, amassing an audience between 450,000 and 630,000 viewers. In Australia, the series premiered with a strong 1.11 million viewers, but viewership fell to 288,000 viewers by April, prompting Network Ten to move the series to its HD channel

, which premiered the second half of the season on October 31, 2011.

Critical reviews

Upon the premiere of the pilot episode, the series received positive reviews from television critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from television critics, the show received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally favorable review", based on 25 reviews. Reviews for the full season were generally positive. Nick Hartel of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

deemed the DVD release of the season as "Recommended", writing that it "should wisely be approached as a family drama that utilizes the police angle as a common bonding element." Hartel lauded Selleck, Wahlberg and Cariou's performances and the family dinners, noting that "the arguments and interruptions that garnish the meals give "Blue Bloods" its most human qualities." Hartel also noted that the series "quickly resort to genre story staples", adding that the "identity crisis of cop drama versus family drama results in the former getting the short end of the stick with many cases feeling like an afterthought or plot contrivance for the Reagans to discuss at the weekly family dinner." C.S. Stonebridge of The Numbers wrote, "The regular crimes are also intriguing enough to carry most episodes, although there were a few too many times where there were pretty big coincidences that strained credibility. But this storyline made watching each episode more important, as opposed to a show like Law & Order, where you could almost literally grab any episode in the show's 20 year run and watch it without having to have seen any of the earlier episodes to know what's going on." Stuart Cummins of ''What Culture'' called the series "entertaining police drama that combines the best elements of shows such as Numbers, CSI and Law & Order with the family crises and dramas found in shows like Brothers & Sisters." Chuck Barney of ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' found the cases on the series to "don't carry much of a wow factor" and the show overall lacked "the kind of grittiness that might make it more powerful." Barney however praised the actors' performances and the family dynamic of the Reagans. Some reviewers, however, share mixed to negative opinion concerning the shows format. ''DVD Verdict'' writer Adam Arseneau wrote positively about the season, praising the actors' performances, the family dynamic and the multi-generational police family plot while deeming the family dinners and the lessons doled out from them "smacks of self-righteousness and lazy writing." Arseneau concluded about the season, "If we had genuinely solid material to engage the Reagans, Blue Bloods could be one of the best cop shows on television. As it stands, it rarely transcends average." David Brown from ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' gave the season release three stars (out of five), writing "Imagine something that mixes the best elements of Law & Order and Brothers & Sisters and you get the idea." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' writer Michael Hann wrote negatively of the series, noting that "one can know what is happening without even watching the show, since each episode follows the same template."

Episodes

Ratings

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

All viewing figures and ranks are sourced from

BARB Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

Australia

DVD release

References

External links

* * {{Blue Bloods 2010 American television seasons 2011 American television seasons Blue Bloods (TV series)