‘Blue Bloods’ Linda Reagan character is gone; ‘Get Shorty’ will be back
Q. Last spring, my husband and I watched what we thought was the season finale of “Blue Bloods.” At the end of the episode, Danny’s house caught fire, but his family was saved. When we watched the season premiere, Danny’s wife was dead. We checked On Demand, but there was no episode that we missed. What happened?
A. The eighth-season premiere of the CBS drama caught quite a few people by surprise because it included the unexpected death of Linda Reagan (played by Amy Carlson). In the episode, we learned that Linda, who’s married to Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) on the show, had survived the fire but — between the seventh-season finale and the eighth-season premiere — died in the crash of a medical helicopter as she was helping to transport a patient. In this age of rapid-fire spoilers, Carlson and the show kept this one very quiet.
The reason, according to Deadline.com, was that Carlson “had fulfilled her contract, which was up at the end of Season 7, and felt it was time to move on.” The actress did not elaborate after Linda’s death was revealed, instead saying on Twitter that she was grateful to the network, the show and her fans, and proud of her contribution to the program.
Q. “Get Shorty” is the best series I’ve seen since “The Sopranos.” Will it be back for a second year?
A. A second season of the series on Epix — 10 episodes, like the first — has been ordered for telecast in 2018. According to TVLine.com, a top Epix executive said that the show “has been the perfect addition to our scripted original slate” and “our most successful original scripted series to date.”
For those of you tuning in late, the series was inspired by the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, which also was made into a movie in 1995 starring John Travolta and Gene Hackman. Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano play the characters on the Epix series.