Blue Bloods star Tom Selleck has expressed his frustration over the show's cancellation after 14 years. In a new interview, the 79-year-old actor, who starred as Frank Reagan on the CBS show, said he felt the drama's success was "always taken for granted".
When asked how he felt about the series concluding with its 14th season, Tom told TV Insider: "I'm kind of frustrated. During those last eight shows, I haven't wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful.
"In a Top 100 Shows of 2023-2024 (in total viewers, we were number 9 out of 100), if you discount the three football shows, we're #6! I'm not going to turn into a bitter old guy saying, 'Get off my lawn!' I don't believe in holding grudges, but if you were to say to the television network, 'Here's a show you can program in the worst time slot you got, and it is going to guarantee you winning Friday night for the next 15 years,' it would be almost impossible to believe," continued the star, who went on to say it will "take a while" to get used to the show ending.
"My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go," he explained. "So how do I feel? It's going to take a long time to sort all of this out. I remember after the weekend [of the final episode's shoot], I said, 'I've got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.' Well, there was no Monday. It's just going to take a while."
This isn't the first time Tom has spoken out about CBS' decision to end the show. When the decision was announced earlier this year, the Friends star said he hoped the network would "come to their senses".
When asked if the show was coming back, he previously told CBS News: "We're the third-highest scripted show in all of broadcast. We're winning the night. All the cast wants to come back. And I can tell you this: we aren't sliding off down a cliff. We're doing good shows, and still holding our place. So, I don't know. You tell me!"
Blue Bloods returns to screens on October 18 with the eight remaining episodes of season 14.
The official synopsis for the first episode, 'Life Sentence', teases plenty of drama. It reads: "The Reagans' professional lives converge when an allegation of jury tampering against Erin intertwines with Danny and Baez's homicide case and Eddie's bond to a child murder witness; Frank clashes with his friend and confidant Archbishop Kearns over the death penalty; and when Jamie's car is stolen, he joins forces with his nephew, Joe Hill, to recover it."