TV Talk: ‘Blue Bloods’ spinoff debuts; ‘Diplomat’ returns

Plenty of viewers were miffed at CBS for canceling “Blue Bloods,” but the network’s new spinoff series, “Boston Blue” (10 p.m. Oct. 17, KDKA-TV) offers some solace.

“Boston Blue” essentially replicates the “Blue Bloods” formula, applying it to a Boston family led by Baptist pastor Rev. Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson), stepping into the Tom Selleck patriarch role. His daughter is Boston district attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben). Additional family members include police superintendent Sarah Silver (Maggie Lawson), rookie cop Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner) and Boston PD detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green, “Star Trek: Discovery”), who partners with “Blue Bloods” regular Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) after Danny’s son, rookie Boston cop Sean (Mika Amonsen), gets injured.

Showrunners Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier even retain the family dinner scenes preceded by prayer, albeit with a twist.

During a virtual CBS press conference last month, Wahlberg explained how they developed this new show and why it makes sense storywise and characterwise for Danny to relocate to Boston.

“The Reagan family always had each other’s back in New York, and there was always another Reagan there to have their six, and to be there for them,” Wahlberg said. “Rather than coming up with all these stories and ideas and gimmicks of what would make Danny stay [in Boston], it’s the father and son bond, and Sean being able to look behind him and know that he has a Reagan there as well.”

At the start of the series premiere, Danny Reagan and Lena Silver rub each other the wrong way, but that will change as their partnership grows and develops.

“There is this kindness between these two,” Martin-Green said. “They’re from two very different places, but they’re both from these law enforcement families. They both understand that faith and family and tradition. … Of course, there is going to be conflict, and there are going to be challenges that they have to face in their partnership and outside of it, but at the same time, there is this kindredness that brings them together.”

‘The Diplomat’

By and large, there aren’t a lot of great ongoing dramas on Netflix these days. Sure, we get an occasional, brilliant one-off like “Maid” or “Adolescence,” but when it comes to shows that come back season after season, Netflix doesn’t have a lot to brag about.

But “The Diplomat,” now streaming its third season, is a series to praise loud and long.

Written and created by “West Wing” veteran Debora Cahn, “The Diplomat” is the best geopolitical thriller made today for any platform.

Keri Russell stars as U.S. Ambassador to Britain Kate Wyler, who found herself in a scrape at the end of season two when her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), told the U.S. president that Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney, “The West Wing”) was secretly responsible for an attack on a British aircraft carrier. The president promptly keeled over and died.

Season three picks up one second later as the staff fight over which Bible to use for Penn’s swearing in as U.S. president. One aide offers a tiny Bible or an enormous tome that turns out to be “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

“I want a real Bible, adult-size, written by Jesus,” an aide snaps before some banter about who really wrote the Bible.

That’s the great thing about “The Diplomat:” It is both a tension-filled thriller and, often, a hilarious comedy about the absurdities attendant with running the world.

This season includes many jokes about Russians “falling out of windows” while also exploring the state of Kate and Hal’s marriage in the fallout from Penn ascending to the presidency.

Aside from an unearned character turn in the season finale that seems to come out of nowhere, “The Diplomat” delivers another great season of political intrigue mixed with character drama.

In a virtual press conference earlier this month, Russell said the season two finale propels the show into this third season.

“I also love that the [season two] ending involves Hal doing something fantastically stupid,” she said. “He’s always involved in the mischief of it, which is part of the fun of the show. I love where it goes in season three. … I love the personal humiliation and devastation that happens at the end of [the third season premiere] for Kate. Losing is just such a fun thing to do as an actor. And as a character.”

Janney said reuniting on screen with her “West Wing” co-star, Bradley Whitford, who plays Grace’s husband, was “such a great homecoming for both of us.”

“My favorite thing to say is that we’ve spent [more than] 20 years arguing in fake government buildings together,” Janney said. “We love each other. We’re family. We have a huge history together. … Having him here and creating the relationship between Grace Penn and Todd is delicious for us because of all the history that’s baked into our relationship. And yes, we were C.J. and Josh, but this is so different. And once people see it, they won’t think about C.J. and Josh anymore. They’ll fall in love with Grace and Todd, I’m hoping.”

Whitford said it’s important to take the work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously while doing the work.

“On ‘West Wing,’ sometimes the personal stuff resonated with the issues,” he said. “And then the show would not become a note, it would become a chord. And that is in every frame of this show. It is about international diplomacy and it’s about the power struggles within relationships.”

Channel surfing

Taylor Swift’s full concert film “The Eras Tour: The Final Show” and an accompanying six-episode docu-series debut on Disney+ Dec. 12. … Summer hit “FI The Movie” streams on Apple TV Dec. 12 (the company appears to have dropped the “+” and is no longer Apple TV+). … Season four of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” will release in two parts, Jan. 29 and Feb. 26.