My Blue Bloods binge is over…for now

Despite the sunshine outside, this week has been a bit foggy for me. It’s been one week. One week since I finished watching 111 episodes of Blue Bloods.

I started watching the show the last weekend of January and I finished the five seasons available on Hulu last Friday night (March 4). That’s  4,773 minutes of Blue Bloods in FIVE weeks. That’s almost 80 hours, the equivalent of working a second full time job (yes, I do have a real full time job). Now I don’t know what to do with myself after work or on weekends anymore.

Let me tell you how and why the land of blue sucked me in.

It started at the gym. The new ellipticals have mini TV monitors on them and one afternoon as I was flipping through channels in sync with the steps I took, I finally settled on the face of Will Estes (Look at that face. Wouldn’t you follow it anywhere?). He plays the strong, quiet Jamie Reagan in Blue Bloods and in this scene that stopped me, he was taking the statement of a woman who escaped a kidnapping attempt (it was the finale of season one). Considering I was reading captions and I had already missed the first 15 minutes of the episode, something about his face drew me in and I stepped my way to the end of the episode.

After the gym, I conducted my typical IMDB.com research on the show, figuring out the key players. Then I scouted Hulu to see if the show was available. It was. Five seasons worth. (The show is currently airing its sixth season on CBS).

Prior to this, my only knowledge of the show was that is starred Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg. I’m not going to lie, I was skeptical about a former NKTOB’s ability to act in a serious TV drama. I can say now, Wahlberg blows me away as Danny Reagan. #CuffmeDanny! Other things I love about this series.

Sunday family dinners and sibling fights. I wish they would invite me. The food looks amazing and there’s always dessert! In true sibling fashion, Erin, Danny and Jamie try to pass off their dinner duties to one another. And despite their sometimes heated dinner squabbling (fights), they always find ways to help each other out, even when they technically shouldn’t.

DCPI Garrett Moore. I love that he’s tried to resign a handful of times and Frank refuses to let him go. I think he’s trying to be the devil’s advocate in Frank’s tough but fair leadership of the NYPD.

Danny and Jamie’s female partners. Whether it’s an attempt to balance out an otherwise heavy male cast or if it’s really representative of a typical NYPD pair up, it works. I really love the dynamic between Jamie and his partner Eddie Janko, but they can’t fool me, there’s definitely a connection between them. One that they’ve acted on a couple times. And like them, I believe, I am conflicted if I want them to be a couple or partners.

Fun fact – Len Cariou who plays Henry, Frank’s father, is only 5 years older than Selleck in real life.

Yesterday, when I was at the gym, on the elliptical as per usual, I tuned into WGN out of habit at this point and the first episode of Blue Bloods was on. It seems WGN and I are on the same re-run schedule. Maybe I’ll start the series over while I wait for season six to become available.

Hulu, please be my friend and make it soon.