SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Boston Blue Season 1, Episode 1.

When Boston Blue was announced, Blue Bloods fans were honestly confused as to why CBS ended Blue Bloods and then ordered a spinoff that seemed to be the exact opposite. Why would Danny Reagan leave New York? After watching the Boston Blue premiere, viewers technically have answers, but there’s still a lot to be confused about, too.

Boston Blue is essentially Blue Bloods repeating itself with a different family in a different city—which sets up a catch-22. On its merits, it would have made much more sense to market this as a standalone show. The Reagan connection isn’t great; Sean Reagan (now played by Mika Amonsen) is critically injured so that his father Danny has a reason to travel to, and stay in, Boston. Bridget Moynahan makes a guest appearance as Erin Reagan, and Frank Reagan is mentioned but not seen. But it never stops feeling like the Reagans are there just to get people interested in the new series. This show is really about the Silver family, and they’re interesting on their own.

The new characters are very well-cast. It’s fun to see Sonequa Martin-Green in a straightforward procedural role after her years doing genre work on Star Trek: Discovery and The Walking Dead. Anyone who watched Psych will get a kick out of Maggie Lawson now playing a police leadership role and not a detective. Black-ish star Marcus Scribner ably fills the rookie cop part, while Gloria Reuben takes over for Tom Selleck as the head of household. All of the actors are watchable. But because the family is organized pretty much exactly like the Reagans (a fact Danny calls out in one scene), this series could never be anything other than a Blue Bloods spinoff. If it was under any other name, people would just call it a ripoff of Blue Bloods. And that creates a dichotomy that Boston Blue isn’t immediately able to reconcile.

The good news for Blue Bloods fans is that they get what they came for. An opening scene reaffirms what was implied from the Blue Bloods series finale: Danny and his partner Maria Baez are now also romantic partners, too. The sight of Erin and the mention of Frank are further welcome updates. The bad news is that Boston Blue doesn’t give enough reason why this show needs to exist, other than keeping the brand alive. The actors may be great, but there are too many similarities between the Silver and Reagan clans. There’s not enough in the pilot to explain why this is different from Blue Bloods—or from any other cop show. (The creative team may want to take notes from Sheriff Country, the Fire Country spinoff which was more successful in this respect.)

Boston Blue is worth a second viewing just because of the cast involved. But they need more time for their characters, and the dynamics between those characters, to flourish and get audiences to care. That brief scene between Danny and Baez is a good example of what’s missing. Existing audiences are used to Danny and Baez working together; the pilot doesn’t convince people that Danny and Lena click together. Even for those who have never seen Blue Bloods, there’s not a reason to root for them yet. Hopefully that will come in future episodes, but right now, Boston Blue is stuck firmly in Blue Bloods‘ long shadow.

Boston Blue airs Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.