New York's Finest?

There's no shortage of TV po-po shows these days and quality-control needs to be rigorously applied. 'Blue Bloods' (RTE2), a much-trailed NYPD cop drama, revolves around the Irish-American Reagan family, three generations of Poh-Lease, with Tom Selleck as the current Police Commissioner. Donnie Wahlberg plays a distinctly Republican Bull he is counter pointed by his liberal, college-man brother, also a cop. Throw in an Assistant DA sister and 'Cut-me-and-I-bleed-Blarney' ex-cop grandfather and you have the makings of an interesting family dynamic. Sadly, the family scenes are the only original and compelling parts of the programme. Otherwise, 'thetvreviewguy' finds it to be a mish-mash of 'The Wire' without the swearing and the realism and 'Law and Order', without the Order and with 'whodunit' scripts that are clichéd and pat. It's a pity because the family plot-line to 'Blue Bloods' looks like being a real grower (there's been a recent commissioning of a second series). Selleck is watchable and can really act; while 'Magnum' was fun, it could never be accused of gravitas and moral integrity, both of which the actor brings to his role in 'Blue Bloods'. Still, thankfully, it's not CSI - there's no techno or forensics BS. Instead, the writers try to meld to stories into one; the family tale and the shooty, crimey stuff; the joins are by no means seamless. Wahlberg may be role- limited but he does chippy Micks down to a t. 'Blue Bloods' is better than a lot of the garbage out there but it ain't no David Simon show; for 'thetvreviewguy', it ain't no thing.