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Q: My family absolutely loves "Blue Bloods." It has good American values, with a family fighting for safety and justice in New York City, of all places. Will they be back in a new season?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

It seems likely CBS didn't think too hard before renewing "Blue Bloods." The show's been a solid performer on a tough night, and by CBS cop-show standards, is still in the full blush of youth.

It will premiere its fifth season on Friday, Sept. 26, three days after the 12th season premiere of "NCIS" and two days before the 15th premiere of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Though it's never drawn the big numbers that those two smashes have, it's still done well for itself. It consistently wins its time-slot on Friday nights, and its fourth season finale in May actually performed better than its season 3 ender. It drew 11.78 million viewers, which is a good number for any night, but a great number for Friday, which is traditionally a bad night for TV viewership.

The network clearly thinks it has a winning formula here, so little will be changing for the new season. The core cast of Tom Selleck as the patriarch of the law-enforcing Reagan family, Donnie Wahlberg and Will Estes as his two cop sons, and Bridget Moynahan as his assistant district attorney daughter, will all be returning.

Indeed, "Blue Bloods" survived the significant change that came in 2012 when Jennifer Esposito, who played Wahlberg's partner, Jackie, left the series. He had a few part-time partners afterwards until, as of last season, he was paired with a new full-time partner, Maria Baez (played by Marisa Ramirez).

CBS clearly enjoys being in the Tom Selleck business, as "Blue Bloods" is just the latest bit of investigative work it's given to him. Selleck previously starred on the '80s classic "Magnum, P.I." and more recently the series of Jesse Stone telefilms, which were adapted for the network from the novels by Robert B. Parker.

 

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