Why Some Shows are Hits

Blue Bloods just completed its 7th Season and has signed for an 8th.   It is a show that is more PG than the other Police shows.   It revolves around a family.

There’s the Grandfather, who served in the Military, and is the retired Police Chief.  He is a widower.  There is the Son, the current Police Chief who also served in the Military and is also a widower, but has three children.

The eldest is married with two sons, and also served in the military and is a detective in the New York Police Force.  The Middle child is a daughter who is an Attorney, divorced with one daughter.  The third child is a Beat Cop, unmarried with no military background, but who attended Law School.

This family, the Reagans is the core of the show.

They are a basic American family.

The characters, the plots, the interactions are what keeps the interest.  It is not just a cop running down bad guys, but a cop with family and connections and a solid base.

It is a show you can watch easily.

Hawaii 5-O is another series which has completed seven seasons and has been renewed for an eight.  It is the story of a special Task Force made up of  Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, a Honolulu Detective, Danny Williams, Kono and her cousin Chin.

During the seasons there was an addition of Jerry Ortega and Lou Grover.

The banter between McGarrett and Danny Williams, the relationships between Kono and her husband, the off the wall asides of Jerry, all go into breaking tension in a very fast moving Police Drama.

What keeps it moving is that characters, like the Actor who plays Danny can be ‘missing’ for a few episodes without the show going off the tracks.

Apparently, the Star, who plays McGarrett intends to leave after the 8th season, this will either mean that the show ends or that somehow, the slack is picked up.

In many good serials the leaving of a character, even a star, does not kill the series, (Think CSI, thein NYPD Blue).   If the other actors want to remain, if the public is willing to accept them, then it is possible to introduce someone to partially replace McGarrett and to be a character on his/her own.

Both of these series have stayed high in the rating because they know how to ‘dilute’ the tension.  Too often a program is too intense and just makes the viewer uncomfortable because the characters are too distant.

In both these shows, the characters are ‘known’ to the viewers.  Enough of their personalities are dripped out so that one can kind of expect their response to stimuli.

They are both worth watching.