Archive for April, 2016

Why America Loves Blue Bloods

Sunday dinner with the Reagan family is about to get more heated than usual. No, Blue Bloods viewers shouldn’t expect swearing or punching, but the CBS drama’s sixth-season finale features a volatile case involving police brutality against minorities that tests the familial civility during the weekly meal at the stately Brooklyn home of NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). Those family dinners, a hallmark of each episode, are a big reason for Blue Bloods’ ongoing popularity: In its sixth season, the show has won every Friday-night ratings race it’s been in, averaging 10.5 million viewers who watch live. “Legal and police cases drive the episodes,” says executive producer Kevin Wade, “but we’re careful to choose stories where there’s a built-in dilemma for our characters, and they consult one another as to whether justice is in fact black or white.”

Also in this issue:

• Finale Preview: Scoop on fan favorite shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Arrow, Empire, Scandal, Castle, Chicago Fire and more.

• The Good Wife: Julianna Margulies says goodbye to her Emmy-winning role

• Grace and Frankie: TV veterans Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston talk about their ageless comedic turns on the Netflix comedy

• Will These Shows Be Saved?: A look at the network series that have yet to be renewed. Is time running out?

• Plus: Houdini & Doyle, The Last Man on Earth, The Girlfriend Experience and more.

Game of Thrones Season 6: Sex, Secrets, Revenge and the Bloodiest Battles Yet

Welcome back to Westeros. Game of Thrones returns Sunday, April 24 with it’s most ambitious season yet. “The scale is a lot grander than anything we’ve done,” says executive producer Dan Weiss (at more than $10 million, the per-episode budget was reportedly the highest ever). “There are all kinds of violent struggles. Everybody is struggling with everybody else.” And this time, fans of George R.R. Martin’s bestselling novels don’t have a road map to the plot of the HBO series, which has now gone beyond the books. But the producers have been preparing for this challenge. “It wasn’t like, ‘We’re past the books now. What the hell do we do?’” executive producer David Benioff says. “We’ve been talking about where we’re heading for a long time. Specifics have to be fleshed out, but we know where the series ends. We know the landmarks.” We hit the set for all the scoop on what’s next for the Lannisters, Daenerys Targaryen and the surviving Starks.

Also in this issue:

• The Catch: Mireille Enos and Peter Krause dish on their red-hot roles in Shonda Rhimes’ sexy new thriller.

• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Break out the—ahem—pinot noir! Ellie Kemper’s preternaturally optimistic doomsday-cult survivor is back for Season 2 of the Netflix comedy.

• The Big Bang Theory: The gang of geniuses continue to grow up, but how will a baby affect TV’s No. 1 sitcom?

• Anna Chlumsky: The Veep scene stealer talks about her unlikely return to TV and her breakout role on HBO’s political satire.

• 12 Monkeys: Syfy’s twisty time-traveling saga returns with the clock ticking down to a catastrophic global plague.

• Scorpion: The CBS drama wraps up the season with a nuclear meltdown, a crazed kidnapper… and a possible proposal.

• Daytime Emmys Preview: This year’s ceremony won’t be televised, but there’s still plenty to cheer for.

• Plus: Dancing With the Stars’ Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd, Inside Amy Schumer, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Banshee, Turn: Washington Spies, Limitless, Penny Dreadful and more.