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In this economy, maybe Tom Selleck and Dana Delany will be enough to keep TV viewers at home on a Friday night.
At least that’s what CBS and ABC are hoping for as the two TV veterans headline some good-looking old style TV shows.
While Delany’s Friday show isn’t yet on ABC’s schedule, Selleck’s “Blue Bloods” has a season premiere at 10 tonight on Channel 4 (it repeats at 9 p.m. Saturday) that is a cut above most police dramas.
“Blue Bloods” also has some Buffalo bloodlines. Fred Keller is a director-producer on the series about three generations of police heroes and legal eagles in New York City.
Selleck stars as Frank Reagan, the police commissioner who is the head of an Irish family of cops in this stylish-looking series with the sites of New York City a backdrop. It also stars Donnie Wahlberg and Will Estes as his sons in the force; Bridget Moynihan as his daughter the assistant district attorney; veteran actor Len Cariou as his father; and Frank Sinatra as the soundtrack.
This isn’t initially David Milch’s “NYPD Blue,” though there are some similarities before the pilot ends.
Frank does things his way in and out of uniform, riling against bloggers and trying to keep his children from battling during law-and-order and justice system debates over meals.
Wahlberg gets much of the air time in the pilot, playing an abusive cop in the Andy Sipowicz mold who will do anything to save a 9-year-old hostage. Estes plays a Harvard-educated son who goes in the family business rather than get rich as a lawyer. Moynihan is the daughter with a messy personal life who believes in the Constitution, which puts her at odds with some family members.
There is plenty of family drama, family hostility and family secrets and a decent twist near that end that makes “Blue” move beyond what otherwise was a routine cop series. Rating: 3 stars out of 4
It gets a break tonight, airing opposite ABC’s “20/20,” which follows a repeat of the new ABC Wednesday legal drama “The Whole Truth” starring Rob Morrow (see above) and Maura Tierney.
The truth is the new ABC series needs an extra run in Buffalo. It opened Wednesday night with a meager 3.6 rating on Channel 7, the local ABC affiliate. The premiere of CBS’ lighter legal drama “The Defenders” opposite it almost tripled the “Truth” audience with a 9.7 rating.
Fox’s new Tuesday comedies, “Raising Hope” (4.4) and “Running Wilde” (3.2) also had rough opening nights here despite the strong lead-in from “Glee”(8.2).
ABC also is repeating the season premiere of “Modern Family” at 8 tonight, followed by a repeat of the lame sitcom “Better With You.”
* After only one episode aired, HBO has announced that it has renewed “Boardwalk Empire” with Steve Buscemi for a second season.
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
8.2 to 4.4. All I can say is: ouch. Without Glee, those numbers would be worthy of cancellation after one episode. “Running Wilde” at 3.2 is already there, since that’s the level Quarterlife and Secret Talents of the Stars were when they got the axe after one.