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CBS’ police procedural dramaBlue Bloodswas one of the most-watched series on network TV. The Tom Selleck-led drama centered on the Reagans, a family who has a great number of members working for law enforcement. The show ran for 14 seasons and had incredible viewership numbers despite its time slot.
The series was unceremoniously canceled ahead of its fourteenth season withSWATreplacing its time slot. Everyone from critics, the fans, and the actors themselves campaigned hard to get the series back on again but CBS did not budge. Despite so much demand, I still cannot figure out why the network canceled the series.
CBS cancelingBlue Blooddespite high ratings and viewership is so odd
2024 was a year thathad quite a few endings and more than its share of cancellations. Hyped-up shows with a large and vocal fan following such asWhat We Do In The ShadowsandYellowstonehad their swansongs this year, and the cancellation of shows likeOur Flag Means DeathandTime Banditsignited fan campaigns to save them.
The CBS seriesBlue Bloodsbelonged to the second category. Tom Selleck and Donni Wahlberg starred in the procedural drama that centered on the Reagan family. Airing from 2010, the show was a hit for the network since day one and has raked in incredible viewership numbers. At the renewal of the final 14th season, CBS stated (viaTHR),
Blue Bloods has dominated Friday nights since its premiere and remained an important anchor for CBS’ winning lineup. Led by the outstanding Tom Selleck, and an incredible cast and creative team, viewers continue to embrace the Reagans, their law enforcement family, and the series’ dramatic storytelling. We can’t wait to pull a chair up to the Reagan family dinner table for another fantastic season.
The show reportedly had steady ratings on its Friday night slot and became CBS’ second-longest-running show with its fourteenth season behindNCIS: Los Angeles. By the end of its run, it was also the sixth-highest-watching network TV show and CBS’ fourth-most-watched series. Yet, the network chose to cancel it.
“Oh my god, he’s got so much hair”: A Hairy Tom Selleck Convinced Donnie Wahlberg ‘Blue Bloods’ Would Fire Him for a Bizarre Reason
Viewership numbers are usually the primary reason for a show’s cancellation. Take the much-admired David Fincher seriesMindhunter, which wascanceled by Netflixright after its second season due to its viewership numbers not justifying its cost. However, it is still incredibly strange that CBS chose to cancel it.
The show replacing it is reportedlySWAT, another procedural action show. According toScreenRant,SWATplaces sixteenth in the highest-rated series by CBS. It makes no sense to boost this show’s ratings despite the large gap between their viewership numbers.
Tom Selleck and other cast members tried their best to keepBlue Bloodsgoing
Beyond viewership numbers and ratings, shows get canceled for other reasons too. Well, maybe canceled is the wrong term for this reason. Some end because the makers want to end the story they set out to tell. TakeBreaking BadorThe Sopranos, the character arcs of the leading protagonist had an endgame from the start and they ended after five and six seasons.
While some shows end because of the key talents having creative differences,Blue Bloodshad no such issues.The leading cast of the series always came across as a real family who spent fifteen years together working every day. Led by Tom Selleck, the series was beloved by its cast members and they too did not go down without a fight.
The cast first saved the show by reportedly taking a 25 percent pay cut from their salaries to make sureBlue Bloodsran for a final fourteenth season (via THR). Despite requests and enthusiasm from the cast, however, season 14 set out to be the last. Selleck expressed her frustration with the network’s decision multiple times and he too echoed the sentiment that it did not make sense.
Mark Harmon’s NCIS, Tom Selleck’s Blue Bloods Have One Damning Connection That Makes Both Shows Bastions of White Privilege
He said in an interview withTV Insiderabout the show’s cancellation and how he felt during the final days,
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. If you were to say to the television network, ‘Here’s a show you may 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.
Thenetwork has not even announced a spinoffshow to capitalize on the incredible fan following that it has now. Studios and networks love a franchise and CBS definitely does with its infiniteNCISspinoffs. But the way they are treatingBlue Bloodsmakes it seem like something nefarious is at play here.
Intense fan campaigns too did not saveBlue Bloodsfrom getting canceled
The more I attempt to dissect the reasoning behindCBS’ decision to cancelBlue Bloods, the more it is baffling. As I mentioned earlier, there are only a few reasons why a beloved series gets canceled andBlue Bloodsseemed to fall in none of those categories. Everyone involved was enthusiastic to make the show and fans loved to watch it in huge numbers.
Many shows have been saved by fan campaigns. Sitcoms such asCommunityandBrooklyn Nine-Ninefound a home on different networks and though they only thrived for a while, still kept the lights on for a few seasons.Arrested Developmenttoo was revived by Netflix after its third season and went on for two more.
Fans ofBlue Bloodsleft no stone unturned to encourage CBS to reconsider their decision. From letter-writing campaigns (viaChasing Confetti) to passing around online petitions to even in-person picketing, they did it all to garner the network’s attention. The campaigns were even endorsed by the actors in the series.
Why Did Blue Bloods Get Cancelled? Explained
However, none of it seemed to work andBlue Bloodsaired its final episode on August 19, 2025. CBS’ Entertainment President had no concrete answer to its cancellation and just stated (viaEW),
It is important to give [the] show the sendoff it deserves. We love this cast, we love their passion for the show. All shows have to come to an end. It’s important to us to refresh the schedule. We are going to end the show come December.
The only logical conclusion that can be drawn from this is thatBlue Bloodsmight just have been expensive to produce. Long-running shows tend to have that problem and with increasing salaries, many networks might just find it cheaper to end the series than spend more money to retain a strong base. They can just hope the same base translates to whatever replacement comes along.
Blue Bloodsis available to stream on Paramount+ and Hulu.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2417
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
