"Blue Bloods" Cast and Crew Reminisce at PaleyFest

On October 17, "Blue Bloods" showrunner Kevin Wade and cast members Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou, Vanessa Ray, and Marisa Ramirez sat for a panel discussion with moderator Vladimir Duthiers at PaleyFest, an annual celebration of the television industry held at the Paley Museum in New York City.

Selleck kicked things off by reading a letter written by the family of longtime executive producer Leonard Goldberg, who died in 2019. The letter revealed that Goldberg was instrumental in establishing the beloved weekly family dinners "that served as the emotional fulcrum of each episode."

"…he understood what the everyday interactions around the dinner table would add to the show's dynamic, and how they would resonate with viewers," Selleck read.

Wade said that while the main characters are all in law enforcement, the point of "Blue Bloods" is not whether or not they caught the killer or got out of perilous situations that week. The heart of the show is whether the family members can get past their differences to remain a close-knit unit. The weekly dinners were an essential part of telling that story.

"The family dinner, I think, became a lot of things to a lot of people," Wade said. "A lot of what we did over the ensuing years was finding ways…hopefully telling entertaining crime stories and legal stories, but to bring two or more of these guys into conflict and be able to work that out alongside the crime show."

Moynahan added, "The family dinner brings us together on screen, and it brings people, the audience, together, yearning for that in their own lives, or reigniting that in their own lives, appreciating those moments with their family and those conversations."

Cariou laughed as he talked about filming the very first family dinner for the pilot episode.

"The first scene we did was the family dinner. [Goldberg] sat us down around the table, nine of us around the table, with the kids, and we all kind of looked at one another and went, 'What?... We just met last night.' I mean, literally, we had just met the night before."

Selleck added, "A scene with a group of strangers pretending they'd known each other all their life, first day of work."

Wade revealed that Goldberg found inspiration for the iconic dinner scenes in the Norman Rockwell painting "Freedom From Want," which depicts a happy family sitting around the dinner table at Thanksgiving.

The family dinners were often the only opportunities for all the main actors to film together, allowing them to catch up with people they hadn't seen all week, just like the Reagans did. Selleck said he will miss that weekly gathering.

"Everybody works. Everybody goes this way and that way. And suddenly that opportunity that we had, that gift of once every eight working days seeing everybody, that doesn't happen in almost any TV show, but the way our show was structured, you could always look forward to that. And it's two families. There are the Reagans and the actor family."

While cast members said they would miss the people the most, they also spoke about how much they would miss filming in New York. Broadway Stages has provided facilities for "Blue Bloods" during its entire run, going back to 2010.

"The city is… it's not a Reagan, but it's definitely a character in the show," Wahlberg said. "The most spectacular background you'll ever see. Stories that you can only tell in New York."

Wahlberg added that despite being a "Boston boy" the city has treated him like one of their own.

"It's just been a spectacular time in an amazing city, and I'll miss it. I already miss it… I've never, never had a bad time shooting in the streets of New York. You could put me in any neighborhood, in any borough, and I'm gonna have a good time."

Ray echoed his sentiments, saying she misses "the excitement of getting to work in New York City. I mean, it really is exciting. Every time you get in the van and you drive on the bridge, you go over to Greenpoint, and you're like, 'I can't actually believe this happened.'"

"Blue Bloods" has made a massive economic impact on New York City's film and television industry over the last decade and a half, and we have been so honored to be the show's production partner-of-choice. Over the summer, the Broadway Stages team received a commemorative citation from the state of New York to mark the show's 14 seasons of filming in New York, which created 80,000 jobs and generated more than $1 billion in spending across the state.

The long-running series will air its 293rd and final episode on December 13 in its usual Friday night timeslot. First, CBS will air an hour-long retrospective special called "Blue Bloods: Celebrating a Family Legacy" on Friday, November 29. "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Nischelle Turner will host the special, which will include new interviews with the cast and an inside look at the Reagan family dinners. If you need to catch up before the finale, you can watch all episodes on Paramount+.