‘Blue Bloods’ will stay on its beat JD Pardo
Q: Will “Blue Bloods” be back next season? — George Ryan, Grand Junction, Colo.
A: The answer to that is finally “Yes,” though it was held up for a while. One of CBS’ most reliably performing shows will get a 14th season, but the cast and crew (including Tom Selleck, who had to have gotten a sizable salary during his “Magnum, p.i.” years) had to agree to budget cuts to make that happen … reportedly encompassing a 25-percent reduction for the law-and-order-family drama’s top-billed stars. Along with such other programs as producer Dick Wolf’s NBC shows, which recently got renewals after making similar budgetary concessions, this is an indication of the current series-production model that is seeing networks seeking reduced budgets no matter how successful a series is. “Blue Bloods” surely is one of television’s top success stories now, also given how many other outlets run repeats of it (ION Television, Pluto, etc.), but this situation demonstrates that no show is immune in the industry’s current economy.
Q: Since it’s starting so late in the TV year, will “Nancy Drew” still get a full season for its last round? — Kayla Scott, via e-mail
A: It will, for what was ordered originally. The CW gave the show’s makers sufficient notice of the cancellation to be able to let them have time to complete the commissioned episodes, and also to craft a definitive finale that title star Kennedy Mcmann was particularly pleased about, as she told us recently. The series’ fourth and last season begins May 31, and it will run until late August.
A: Especially when I think about it, when it comes to EZ, it’s in these dark places that there’s a sense like an awakening that happens. It’s like you almost have to go through the fire, and experience the lowest of the lows, to understand who you are and to test it. I think that that’s where you find these characters.
Q: What do you think EZ represents on the broader scale of the human condition?
A: It’s like a lot of times, we use people or situations as excuses and crutches because we are afraid to be who we are. We are afraid to acknowledge who we might be. What I have always loved about “Mayans M.C.,” and it’s a separation from “Sons of Anarchy” and other shows of this nature, is that this isn’t a character that just goes into prison and spends time there and comes out and it’s like, “Oh, it is just another day.” It is the story of this human being who goes to prison and who is transformed by it, who is traumatized by it, who carries that with him every day.
Q: How do you think that manifests itself in who we now see EZ to be?
A: He lost a bit of himself in there. He “died” in there. So, EZ has always been trying to go back to this place to regain who he used to be, when that’s just not the truth anymore.