TV

Is Blue Bloods Out of Touch with Reality? Fans Debate Show Losing Relevance

Is Blue Bloods Out of Touch with Reality? Fans Debate Show Losing Relevance
Image credit: CBS

Well, probably no, it isn't out of touch with reality (beyond the usual conventions of police procedurals, which we mentioned before).

What people mean by Blue Bloods being "out of touch with reality" is the series trying to avoid any direct commentary on the present-day politics whenever possible, and when we last checked, a refusal to make definitive political statements was generally considered a wise move for any series that is just trying to entertain people.

Indeed, as a fan reaction attests, attempts to drag Blue Bloods into the current controversies of the American life, or at least to do so directly, by slinging accusations of racism and excusing police brutality at it, are received quite negatively by the fandom, with the posts to that effect getting ignored and downvoted.

The opinions to the effect that Blue Bloods and modern police procedurals in general portray cop behavior that most people would condemn in the real life are received somewhat better… on /r/unpopularopinion.

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Sure, opinions on the Unpopular Opinion sub-Reddit can be and often are quite popular (with hundreds of comments and upvotes), just controversial and argument-inducing, but this one does not seem to be a hot take, by its standards.

So far, the crew and the cast of Blue Bloods seem to be aware of the general attitude of their fandom, and they usually react to attempts to bring up current politics with non-committal statements.

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For example, when the topic of the show possibly addressing the Black Lives Matter events was brought up during Donnie Wahlberg's interview with TV Insider before the premiere of Season 11, Wahlberg said:

"…when topical stuff comes up, the family always has different points of view, but I do think that, of course, we have to look at everything that's going on in America right now and address it. I think we can certainly be more mindful and do a better job of how we do this. We've always tried to engage in tough conversations with multiple opinions."

That sounds proper and well-meaning, but is notably devoid of any specifics. It remains to be seen, whether Blue Bloods would be able to abstain from overt political commentary in the future.