Blue Bloods is notable television for several major milestones, including bringing Tom Selleck back to after Magnum P.I., and serving as one of the longest-running procedures in TV history. It also led to a major staple: in the majority of Blue Blood’s episodes, Frank Reagan (Selleck) and his family will sit down and have dinner. The dinner scenes play into the Reagan family dynamic, which was at the core of Blue Bloods, and make it feel like comfort television.
But fans might be surprised to learn that a fair bit of on-screen trickery was used to make it look like the Reagans were eating. Selleck, alongside Blue Bloods co-stars Bridget Moynahan, Donnie Wahlberg, and Vanessa Ray, discussed what went into those scenes at last year’s PaleyFest.
The Cast of ‘Blue Bloods’ Took Their Own Unique Approach to the Dinner Scenes
The crew behind Blue Bloods previously discussed how setting up the Reagan dinner scenes often takes hours, which is a reminder of the hard work that goes into making a television show. It’s one thing to create a tasty-looking spread; how do the actors make it look like they’re eating? “We all have tricks. Bridget [Moynahan] is a food masher. She keeps her hands really active and combines her potatoes and everything. I butter rolls. I know everybody else has some tricks they might confess before it’s too late,” Selleck said during the Blue Bloods panel at PaleyFest. Ray revealed that it took her a while to catch on to what her co-stars were doing, to the point where she ate the rolls that were set out in front of her. In Wahlberg’s case, he actually would eat whatever was set in front of him:
“There’s a silly part of the eating and a real part of the eating, and the silly part is if I was going on tour the following summer, I ate only vegetables…If I wasn’t, I ate whatever. And I did get high a few times off the whipped cream in the desserts. I got these sugar highs. But, in truth, I wanted to eat like the character because I thought it was as far as I could go to talk with my mouth full in that first dinner scene.”
Despite the illusion of eating, the dinner scenes in Blue Bloods make the Reagans look like a real-life family. In a series that explores the ups and downs of police work, those scenes offer moments of comfort, not to mention the fact that everything looks appetizing enough to the point where viewers wish they were at the table.
Donnie Wahlberg Was Emotionally Devastated by the Final Dinner Scene in ‘Blue Bloods’
Whether it’s celebrating engagements or solemn remembrances after a loved one’s death, Blue Bloods will save some of its biggest emotional moments for the Reagan dinner scenes. The finale, “End of Tour,” is no different: Erin (Moynahan) opts to get remarried to her ex, Jack (Peter Hermann), while Eddie (Ray) reveals that she’s pregnant. Donnie Wahlberg Entertainment Weekly that filming the Reagans’ final dinner scene was an emotional moment: “I think when we finished filming is what I’ll remember most. We all just kind of sat there told for a long time, and I think everyone was hesitating to say something to say goodbye because A, nobody wanted to, and B, everyone knew once someone started, it’s a wrap. The tissues talking are coming out and everyone’s going to start crying, and sure enough they did.”
Blue Bloods isn’t completely fading from the airwaves, as Wahlberg is set to reprise his role as Danny Reagan in the upcoming Boston Blue spinoff. With Bridget Moynahan set to return, there’s a chance that Blue Bloods fans will be seeing more Reagan family dinners in the future
