Goodbye, New York, hello Boston! While fans were undoubtedly distraught over Blue Bloods’ cancellation after 14 seasons on CBS, we’re not done with the Reagan family just yet. Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny is the center of the new spinoff Boston Blue, which premieres on the 2025 TV schedule on October 17. Critics had a chance to screen the first two episodes of the new series, and they agree that the Blue Bloods faithful will love it.
Boston Blue sees Danny leaving the Big Apple for Beantown, where he partners up with Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green) at the Boston PD, where his son Sean is a rookie officer (played by Mika Amonsen in this series). With a new city, new cops and a twist on the Reagan family dinners, what else can we expect from the spinoff? Robert Lloyd of the L.A. Times says fans of the original will be pleased and gives a hint of what to expect from Danny and his new partner:
Danny and Lena, the show’s main characters, find themselves unofficial partners, as they go from antagonistic to affectionate. He’s bullish and impatient, she’s flexible and methodical. (‘Sometimes dotting I’s and crossing T’s has to come second to right and wrong,’ says he.) He doesn’t like the fact that she can outrun him. She calls him Brooklyn, he calls her Beantown — although Wahlberg, born in Dorchester, is the most Bostonian of all these cops; it doesn’t take an expert to place that accent.
Aramide Tinubu of Variety says intriguing cases, complex family dynamics and the potential for Blue Bloods cameos — Bridget Moynahan’s Erin Reagan reportedly appears in the premiere — make Boston Blue is a worthy spinoff for fans still reeling from the series’ cancellation. Tinubu continues:
A thoughtful and well-paced police procedural, Boston Blue expands the Blue Bloods universe into a new city, without losing the essence of the original. … Boston Blue has enormous shoes to fill, considering the 14-year run of Blue Bloods. Yet, in the episodes screened, it is clear that this new show has the foundation to go all the way.
Deidre Johnson of The Wrap says Boston Blue has all the bones of its predecessor, including a good cast that includes Psych’s Maggie Lawson, Gloria Reuben (who appeared on Blue Bloods in a different role) and Marcus Scribner. Johnson continues:
Boston Blue is following the exact formula as Blue Bloods, for better or worse. Whether the show has the success of its predecessor will depend on the emotional factor of the crimes and criminal cases the characters face in their law enforcement work.
Joel Keller of Decider admits that fans who are still craving more Blue Bloods may make this spinoff a hit, but for everyone else, the critic recommends that we skip this “patently absurd” series. In Keller’s words:
Boston Blue was eye-rollingly frustrating to watch, because it feels like showrunner Brandon Margolis and his writing staff took every contrived, cliched way to create a spinoff of a hit series they could dream up, making for a story that feels like it came straight from a spinoff episode you might have seen in the 1980s.
EW’s Kristen Baldwin, meanwhile, gives it a B+, saying it delivers nothing more and nothing less than what Blue Bloods fans want. It’s a little kinder and gentler than its predecessor, Baldwin says, but it gets the job done. The critic says:
Both Boston Blue episodes CBS made available for review followed the if-it-ain’t-broke template that worked so well for Blue Bloods: The detectives work a high-profile case with multiple stakeholders, leading to a conflict with one or more family members. Ultimately, the crime is solved, and the Silvers gather around the table for a meal and talk over the week’s events.
While Boston Blue isn’t a hit with all of the critics, everyone seems to agree that those familiar with Blue Bloods can expect more of the same from its spinoff. If you want to see more of Danny Reagan, the new series premieres at 10 p.m. ET Friday, October 17, on CBS and can be streamed the next day with a Paramount+ subscription.