Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD-On February 27^th, CBS resumes its popularFriday night line-up with “Sheriff Country” (#2 new series,) “Fire Country” and “Boston Blue” (#1 new series).

A spin-off of “Blue Bloods,” “Boston Blue” spotlights Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg, “Blue Bloods,” “Band of Brothers”) as he transitions from a NYPD detective, taking a position with the Boston Police Department, where he is partnered with detective Lena Sliver (Sonequa Martin-Green, “Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Walking Dead”).

Donnie Walhberg and Sonequa Martin-Green, spoke with the members of the TV Critics Association about the theme that permeates all three Friday night shows, with a hint about the rest of their first season.

Q: Why do you think the three Friday nightseries on CBS are so popular with the audience?

Sonequa Martin-Green: I think that it’s because at the center of these shows, it is about the heart of the character and the heart of the family. You get to see the connectivity between these people but it’s multilayered connections. You’re seeing people on the job saving the day, sacrificing everything that they have for the greater good. I think that seeing people doing that, while also relating to each other in these ways, is kind of intoxicating. It’s what we want to see. You’ve got some phenomenal groups of people that have come together.

Donnie is just an exemplary leader and such a great brother, and I think that you have those connections with all three shows. It’s behind the scenes as well, and I think it bleeds over. People are seeing and feeling a lot when they see these stories come to life.

Donnie Wahlberg: If I can add one thing? I’m going to quote Tom Selleck, who said this so eloquently so many years ago on “Blue Bloods.” “The jeopardy in a show like this is not whether we’re going to catch the bad guy or not. We know who the characters are. They’re not going anywhere. It’s whether or not the family is going to fight at dinner, fight after dinner, that a disagreement between partners is going to go one step beyond irreparable.” That’s the real jeopardy.

I think in that context, it’s why these shows are successful. We put family first at the center of these shows, that’s where the jeopardy must live.

Q: Donnie, this week Danny makes this commitment to turn in his shield and take the Boston PD badge. That’s a major, life-changing event for him. Talk about what went into making this decision and how he sees that going forward.

Donnie Wahlberg: I think it was something we knew would happen eventually, it was just a matter of when. Technically, [with] Danny’s accepting of the Boston badge over the New York shield, there’s still a process to leave New York; he has to retire officially from New York, which is a whole process.

I had to play a few scenes where even just saying the word ‘badge’ is an adjustment, because New Yorkers are so proud of the word ‘shield.’ One of the most important things you do as a New York cop is never refer to it as a badge. It’s a shield that is a badge of honor in New York.

Q: Sonequa, in the midseason premiere, tensions are really running high, but Lena keeps a pretty level head. Do you think she has an Achilles heel? Is there a place to poke her that will set her off in the way that Danny can sometimes be set off?

Sonequa Martin-Green: Absolutely. I honestly think any character that is authentic and relatable has an Achilles heel of some kind; has some  weak spot. And she definitely does and tensions are high, as you said, and we’ll see as the season progresses. Here we are speaking again about the character-driven nature of our story and how it’s one of the reasons why it touches hearts the way it does, because what you will see later, if I can tease a little bit, is that the Achilles heel is very much insular, it’s very much in the family. You’ll see that play out.

Q: Donnie, the New Kids residency in Las Vegas has been extended now. How can you do the series and also perform with the band in Vegas?

Donnie Wahlberg: I’ve done this for a decade and a half when I was filming “Blue Bloods,” touring every summer and filming the other nine months of the year, and that oftentimes would overlap. Of course, it was different, because we had an established cast. But I think in a similar way, we are at a point now where this show can stand on its own. I’m not missing episodes or missing scenes when I go off to do the New Kids residency.

One of the things I knew coming into the show was we had to build a family, and a cast that could survive without Danny Reagan being in Boston. And I think we’ve successfully done that. If Sonequa’s gotta go chase a few bad guys without me for a few days, it’s gonna be great. She is a godsend, and a true partner in every form of the word. There’s gonna be storylines that she can do with her family to shift my days to be able to film the stuff I have to shoot when I’m in town. It’s such a great cast. And so many new stories we get to tell that it really isn’t a problem.