'Blue Bloods' to end next fall after 14 seasons

"Blue Bloods," one of CBS' most successful prime-time procedurals, will end its 14-season run in 2024, the network announced Monday.

As part of a two-part farewell season, the show will launch on Feb. 16 then finish up next fall, with a total of (about) 18 episodes split between the spring and fall runs. A finale date has not yet been set, but November (a sweeps month) is a good bet.

In a joint statement from the network's entertainment and studio chiefs, Amy Reisenbach and David Stapf, respectively, said "'Blue Bloods' will forever be a beloved part of CBS’ legacy [and] ruled Friday nights [with] an exceptionally devoted fan base.”

That's not an exaggeration. Before declining slightly the last couple of seasons, along with the rest of network television, as millions of viewers left for streaming, "Blue Bloods"' averaged around 13 million viewers. It was not just a network fixture but one on streaming too, notably on Paramount+ and on Pluto, where it occupies its own popular channel space.

And not since "NYPD Blue" has a cop procedural had such an indelible tie to Long Island and Long Islanders. In a brief phone interview Monday, show runner and Locust Valley native Kevin Wade said that it had been "mutually agreed upon before the [writers' and actors'] strikes that we would do one more season, and it would be the final one."

He added, "We asked CBS and they listened: What if we did a pretty much normal final season but you split it into two parts? They acted honorably and now we'll be able to pay the proper respects after 14 seasons."

Show star and producer Tom Selleck was "good" with the decision to end at 14, Wade said, but like anyone "in a job they liked, you'd like it to go on until you decided to leave. [But] we all loved doing this and it's certainly lasted much longer for us than any job in show business ever has — none of us were in 'Phantom of the Opera,'for instance. But we're leaving with gratitude."

As a condition of securing the 14th season, the producers and on-air staff also agreed in March to a 25% pay cut. Wade said, "We did not like that and it felt like in success you will be punished when it's usually 'you will be rewarded.' "

After the resolution of both strikes in recent weeks, Hollywood studios have vowed to slash costs to pay for expensive new union contracts. Another hit CBS series, "Young Sheldon," was also recently canceled.

In an interview with Newsday in 2022, Selleck, 78, said "I do have a lot of responsibilities [besides the show] and don't like the commute [from California to Brooklyn] but the show is forever young and we all like each other. There are a lot of shows where you have to walk around on eggshells — not on 'Magnum' and not on this — and I think everybody else would like to continue. No reason not to."

Asked if he had a final wrap scene in mind, Selleck said, "No, and I don't think there is a finality to this. There is no ending plan at all, and I can't imagine an ending. This has been so much a part of my life, longer than I could have ever imagined. How do you do a show for 12 years and not get bored?"

"Blue Bloods," which launched Sept. 24, 2010, is about a family of three generations of NYPD members, centering on its famously mustachioed patriarch/commissioner (Tom Selleck). Its most popular and TV-iconic element is the Sunday family sit-down dinner that wraps each episode.

Filmed at Stage 23 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the show occasionally (although rarely) tapes on Long Island too. Otherwise, the Long Island ties are tangential, or a product of culture and osmosis rather than by design.

In an interview with Newsday marking the show's 250th episode, executive producer (and Valley Stream native) Brian Burns said the family dinner scenes had become the common bond with LI fans because "I grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly Irish and Italian, and cops and firemen for the most part. All of the families on my block had family dinners every single night while the only real distinction between families was what time we had dinner."

Of the fan support, Wade said "how incredibly appreciative we are, those of us who live on Long Island, and just the feeling we get walking around the five boroughs and here. It's like we're in their favorite band."

Meanwhile, there will be no major surprises this last season because "the biggest challenge to us is to do a season that's not about patting ourselves on the back," he said, adding, "We want to pay respect to its legacy and the audience that's stuck with it all these years."

An episode early next year will pay tribute to Treat Williams, who played retired NYPD detective Lenny Ross. Williams, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in June, was a "great friend of the show," Wade said.