Blue Bloods' Countercultural Dinner Table

The subtle traditional values of a long-running network show

I don’t know if this means my wife and I are old souls, but one of our favorite TV shows is the CBS police drama, Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck. Since it first aired in 2010, we’ve not missed a single show. There are a lot of things that appeal to us about it. We both love police/crime dramas and always have. We love the way it gives an inside view of what it is like to be a police officer, a prosecutor, and the police chief in the largest city in the country.

Of course, we know that Blue Bloods isn’t entirely realistic. It’s doubtful a city would allow so many members of one family to be in law enforcement. Crimes rarely get solved in 45 minutes. And Tom Selleck can’t solve every problem.

Ok, maybe that last one is realistic. I believe in Tom Selleck. Anyway, we love the show because of the subtle but important counter-cultural signals Blue Bloods often sends.