The Blue Blood family dinner
I recently watched a few episodes of the popular TV show “Blue Bloods” and was struck by two things: the topical nature of so many of its themes re the police and New York City, and its unusual depiction of a family that eats together every Sunday.
It’s that big family dinner that grabs many of the viewers. I like it, too. As I’ve written in this post on family dinners, I grew up in a world where getting together every evening to have dinner as a family group was a non-negotiable event. I wasn’t allowed to be absent unless I had some bona fide activity or a fever, but I wouldn’t have wanted to skip it anyway. The food was good, and although it certainly wasn’t always smooth sailing emotionally (in fact, verbal altercations and tension were pretty common), it was the only time the four of us got together and talked.
On “Blue Bloods,” the dinner (and the family) is bigger than mine was. So is the house. But the attraction to the meal is similar.
When they film the dinner sequences, the food is real and not just props. The family is portrayed as devout Catholics, and they say grace at every meal with hardly a hint of irony, which is rare on TV.
The public seems to love it. At the table there’s a lot of talking about substantive issues, but it’s the family back and forth that people seem to enjoy most. Note what Donnie Wahlberg says at the end here:
[NOTE: Wahlberg is one of my favorite actors on the show. He originally hails from South Boston, and his family has quite a story, too (see this and this).]
My wife and I like to series too. Along with tackling some current issues, there seems to a a moral imperative to do the right thing when all is said and done. I see a terrible contrast with the current NYC mayor and the desire on his part to do what I think is the right thing.
I remember traveling to NYC on business when I was cautious about walking alone at night in Manhattan and then things changed and I felt as safe as if I were in Disneyland on a sunshiny day.
I am under the impression that those days might be gone now. Of course I no longer have to go up there so I wish the best for all those folk who do.
I’m also struck by the interesting portrayal of the Mayor’s character in “Blue Bloods”…seems very like the current occupant of Gracie Mansion. One of the better shows on TV this or any other season.
We need an increase of patriarchal family order in our culture.
I never miss a Bluebloods episode. I never get over feeling that the dinner scenes are homage to the Waltons.
Duck Dynasty usually ends with a family meal preceded by grace, also.
Yes, a very well done show!
It is true that the dinner scenes are something that most everyone can related to, or wish they could be a part of.
And while Wahlberg, Selleck, and the others are terrific my favorite was Jenifer Esposito playing Jackie.
Unfortunately, she is no longer a part of the cast. Apparently she has celiac disease which was interfering with her work and was written out of the show.
The Waltons tended to have big family dinner scenes sometimes-always liked that show also.
Donnie Wahlberg’s character is the worst type of police officer, sanctimonious about criminals but constantly breaking the law by abusing suspects and violating their constitutional rights. At the end of every episode, he should be charged with a crime. Portraying him as a hero only encourages real officers to be abusive.
If you are the least bit serious, texas, and not just dropping off a bit of ill considered satire, you need either immediate regoupment or professional help.
In case you are kidding, I won’t go into the mean of creating dramatic tension in character development.
Oh, by the way. there have been several episodes dealing with his character’s police methods and departmental and civilian review boards have always found him not guilty.
In one episode, Selleck is asked if he thinks his son steps “over the line” when it comes to police methods. Selleck’s response? “No, but I think there are times when he steps on the line.”
Can’t get the show here, but I’d love to hear about a show that showed family dinners in poor families, maybe one in which the ritual was contrasted with the coolness scene that the kids experience when they leave the house. Maybe they could invite a very cool boy who is a friend of one of the kids to stay for dinner and for the first time experience the parents talking with one another and the kids about a variety of topics. Follow this up with him asking his host whether his mom made mac and cheese often for the family.
I think the society desperately needs a way to show young people what a functioning family is. I hear of so many young girls who don’t know the first thing about cooking or the importance of dinner for their kids.
I am absolutely serious. I’d be interested in why, because I don’t worship at the alter of police infallibility, you think I need professional help. Since I have a different viewpoint than you I guess you think I need brainwashing.
Because police have the power of death over us, I think they need to be held to a higher standard rather than a lower standard. An officer who “steps on the line” needs to be fired if not imprisoned and a superior who tolerates stepping on the line needs to be fired.
NEO: The public seems to love it.
which public? the caucasian public or the african public? what you like is racist to that group of militants… to you its a family, to a group whose families are broken, made up of various mom and pop mixes, and so on, its a white supremacy thing to be angry at…
even the name of it speaks culturally towards the racialists target group “blue bloods”
membership in a royal or socially important family
a member of a noble or socially prominent family
in a comment
now the truth..
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“Slavophilism, the messianism of backwardness, has based its philosophy upon the assumption that the Russian people and their church are democratic through and through, whereas official Russia is a German bureaucracy imposed upon them by Peter the Great. Mark remarked upon this theme: “In the same way the Teutonic jackasses blamed the despotism of Frederick the Second upon the French, as though backward slaves were not always in need of civilised slaves to train them.” This brief comment completely finishes off not only the old philosophy of the Slavophiles, but also the latest revelations of the ‘racists.'” – Leon Trotsky’s 1930 “The History of the Russian Revolution”
the term had no existence before 1930…
but why would neo read what is under the radar in other neighborhoods that when combined with innocuous shows, becomes toxic social explosive?
i grew up in a black slum…
recieved more than one education (several)
most dont even know that there are different realities in which the poeple that confuse them spring forth from
Artfldgr:
“The public” in general, reflected in the fact that the show is popular and long-running (ratings info here).
and its unusual depiction of a family that eats together every Sunday.
A lot of Japanese shows seem to highlight that as either normal or as a cultural should be.