Blue Bloods: Why Does CBS End Its Hit Show Now?

Summary:

• Blue Bloods Season 14 will be the last; the show has been running since 2010.
• According to the CBS boss, financial issues were not the main reason for cancellation.
• Fans argue that it’s more profitable for CBS to start a new show than to keep an old stagnating one going.

Having been on air since 2010, Blue Bloods has had an amazing run — but it ends after the next series, Season 14. Thanks to the decision coming before S14 filming, the hit police show has a handful of episodes to tie up all loose ends and draw the conclusion for its numerous storylines. But why is it being canceled in the first place?

CBS Boss Explains Blue Bloods’ Cancelation

Amy Reisenbach, the CBS Entertainment President, recently addressed the network’s decision to end Blue Bloods. According to her, it came down to two things: the respect for the show and its fans and the need for long-term “refreshment” planning which, Reisenbach explains, suggests that “shows have to eventually end.”

“I hate when we don’t get to give shows proper endings. <...> Our goal is to always end them respectfully so that the audience gets the ending that they absolutely deserve because they’ve put in the time and they love these characters, as well as the cast and crews and writers,” the CBS boss told Deadline.

There have been quite a few budget-related issues with Blue Bloods in the past year, and the show’s crew and cast even had to agree to a massive 25% pay cut.

Reisenbach claims that financial problems were only “a part of the equation but not the whole equation,” and many other factors led the network to canceling the series.

Fans Still Believe Budget Doomed Blue Bloods

Despite Amy Reisenbach’s explanations, many Blue Bloods fans argue that financial issues were the primary cause for the show’s cancellation: after all, any network’s main goal is to turn a profit. At some point, long-running shows like Blue Bloods stop being profitable as their expenses rise but their viewership begins to stagnate.

“They need to clear the show off the schedule to buy themselves a chance at hooking a new, younger audience, probably at a lower cost per viewer. Remember how they canceled NCIS: New Orleans and immediately started Hawaii? Same deal. Fresh start might onboard new viewers and they don’t have to pay the highest season fees,” Reddit user CubismSquared explained.

Fortunately for CBS, most fans lowkey agree that it’s about time to wrap up Blue Bloods, and even the petition to prevent the show’s cancellation fell flat. Blue Bloods had a great run but has been running dry on new ideas for quite some time, and a decent and well-paced closure will be the best possible outcome.

Source: Deadline