Blue Bloods is leaving the airwaves for good with just three episodes left.
This is heartbreaking for many reasons, but the saddest is the family we will lose.
Part of the reason for the blue blood phenomenon is that it family Police stories and not just the case of the week. Should more police procedurals follow the trend it set?
Blue Bloods is unique, but other programs can learn from it
Every police procedural has to be slightly different from the others, otherwise there’s no point in watching them all.
What makes Blue Bloods unique is how it deals with family relationships. Many shows have side stories involving the personal lives of police officers, but for Blue Bloods , the story is much more than that.
In this drama, family and work are intertwined in unique ways. On the one hand, police work is the legacy of the Regan family.
There are four generations of Reagans at our family table, and everyone except the youngest (who is a child at the beginning of the series) consists primarily of police officers.
This premise makes the family scenes that follow feel so natural. For the Regans, family and police work are inseparable.
Furthermore, they were an Irish Catholic family whose religious beliefs required them to engage in public service, making it even clearer that work and family were two sides of the same coin for them.
This premise opens the door to the types of stories you won’t find in any other police show.
For example, an early episode shows Henry riding horses with Jamie, who feels like he’s not living up to his grandfather’s standards.
Later episodes include Danny having to postpone a romantic weekend with Linda when an important case arises, and Eddie and Erin’s relationship when Eddie refuses to let go of a criminal who claims the police raped her Conflict; Eddie and Erin clash when Frank asks Jamie to ride with Joe.
Some of these are typical police procedural stories, but they wouldn’t be so without the close family relationships at the heart of “Blue Bloods.”
However, that doesn’t mean other police dramas can’t learn lessons from the Blue Bloods phenomenon.
People crave family drama.
They want to see people who look like them, while those without strong family ties want to be part of an imaginary family that loves and accepts them for who they are.
Blue Bloods isn’t the only show to capitalize on this desire, though no other show does it to such a significant degree.
In the early days, SVU also did a good job in family matters.
“SVU” was originally formatted similarly to “Blue Bloods,” with two storylines: the case of the week and Stabler’s problems with his teenage daughter.
The most memorable SVU episodes aren’t necessarily the ones that make a strong case. Family stuff is what stands out.
I’ll never forget Stabler’s difficulty dealing with Maureen’s underlying eating disorder, or Catherine’s complete breakdown while battling undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
These are powerful stories about family issues that Stabler had to deal with while putting behind bars those who committed some of the most unimaginable atrocities.
This aspect of “SVU” was so successful that the writers tried it again in the second season of “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” and it worked.
Stories about Mom Stabler’s dementia and teenage Eli’s behavior were more popular than long-form cases, although people enjoyed those stories as well.
So what does organized crime do? it gets rid of all the family stories in season 3.
Talk about the wrong direction!
Law & Order: Organized Crime has since taken steps to correct this mistake. Adding Stabler’s brother was a great idea now that Eli is back and has a kid of his own.
This dynamic works well, making Law & Order: Organized Crime the closest thing to the Blue Bloods phenomenon.
I find it strange that some Blue Bloods fans think this show should be canceled because it has similar family dynamics.
Hopefully this time, the changes stick and the writers don’t decide to eliminate Stabler’s family again, which is the opposite of what they need to do.
FBI Season 7 Episode 5 Gets On Track
FBI shows are also examples of police procedurals that can emulate the Blue Bloods phenomenon by balancing family and work storylines.
FBI Season 7 Episode 5 does this almost perfectly, with Jubal getting into trouble after using his identity as an FBI agent to free his son from police custody following a protest.
The FBI franchise has a habit of writing characters with strong family storylines, so hopefully Jubal’s suspension is only temporary.
Jesse Lacroix in FBI: Most Wanted was popular in part because he had a rebellious daughter who he had to deal with, but she was removed from the cast shortly before Jesse was killed .
Likewise, Agent Kristin Gaines, who has a daughter about the same age as Jesse’s daughter, was written out without any explanation.
Of course, this isn’t entirely the show’s fault. If an actor wants to leave, they have to be eliminated. However, the FBI series may try harder to replace departing characters with characters who also have compelling family storylines.
Do police procedurals have to have family storylines?
The Blue Bloods phenomenon showed how popular dramas that mixed families and cops were, no doubt part of the reason the series was so popular that millions were outraged by its cancellation.
However, that doesn’t mean every police procedural has to have a family story in order to be successful.
The genre used to require objective, almost interchangeable detectives. Look at Dragnet, one of the most classic police shows in television history.
Of course, Bill Gannon sometimes talked about his wife, usually in jest, and there were countless suspects, witnesses, and other police officers who thought it was a shame that Joe Friday didn’t have a girlfriend.
But those private conversations ended there. The police have a job to do and they do it, and only on rare occasions are they seen outside of a case.
The original Law & Order followed a similar formula for over 20 years. (Fun fact: Dick Wolf attempted to reboot “Dragnet” shortly before he struck TV gold with “Law & Order.”)
The show focused primarily on the work of police and prosecutors, and it wasn’t until near the end of the original series that it began to incorporate more personal storylines.
There is an audience for these types of impersonal police dramas, but the Blue Bloods phenomenon made it clear that modern audiences prefer dramas with family stories.
Modern episodes of Law & Order seem to recognize this; one of the most popular is Law & Order Season 24 Episode 3, which tells the story of Detective Riley’s badass brother.
Over to you, police procedural fanatics.
Do you think more episodes should draw inspiration from the Blue Bloods phenomenon, or would you rather the stories focus more on the cases rather than the family drama?
Hit the comments and let us know.
Watch blue bloods online
The final three episodes of Blue Bloods will air Friday at 10/9c on CBS and Saturday on Paramount+. The series finale will air on December 13, 2024.
