“Why Tom Selleck Was Upset When CBS Canceled His Show”
After 14 successful seasons, CBS’s Blue Bloods aired its final episode in December 2024, leaving fans and its star, Tom Selleck, deeply disappointed. Having portrayed the patriarch of the Reagan family for over a decade, Selleck was blindsided by the sudden cancellation.
In an interview in October 2024, Selleck expressed his frustration with the show’s abrupt end. “I’m pretty frustrated about it,” he admitted. “For the last eight episodes, I didn’t want to talk about the show ending. I wanted to talk about how successful it still was.” Selleck, who earned an impressive $200,000 per episode, continued, “The show was always taken for granted because it performed so consistently well from day one.”
His feelings were backed by the show’s performance. In its final season, Blue Bloods averaged over 8 million viewers per episode. The series ranked ninth among the top 100 most-watched programs of the 2023-2024 season — a remarkable feat, especially considering it would have ranked sixth if not for the dominance of football broadcasts. Despite the trend of viewers cutting the cord in favor of streaming services, Blue Bloods managed to maintain a loyal and substantial audience, making CBS’s decision to cancel the show even more perplexing to Selleck and the cast.
