‘Blue Bloods’: Donnie Wahlberg Displays New Kids on the Block Skills in Season Premiere

The Blue Bloods Season 12 premiere might not have been packed with major developments within the Reagan family, but it did end with a surprisingly fun moment. Donnie Wahlberg, who has starred as the no-nonsense Det. Danny Reagan on the show since it began, got a chance to show off his vocal skills. As longtime fans know, Wahlberg was best known as a member of the boy band New Kids on the Block before he began acting.

In “Hate is Hate,” Danny and Det. Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) investigated the tragic murder of a 5-year-old boy. As any crime involving a child’s death is difficult, Danny grew frustrated at the lack of initial leads. He turned to psychic medium Maggie Gibson (Callie Thorne) for help, providing her with one of the boy’s socks. She told Danny to investigate the boy’s father. However, it looked like this was a dead end because the father was a good man.

It looked like Maggie was wrong, but she refused to believe this. Instead, she thought Danny must have been barking up the wrong tree. Then at that moment, the bullet that killed the boy matched another weapon used in a crime. It turned out the owner of the weapon was the real killer… and that person just happened to be the boy’s biological father. He was jealous that his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend was raising his son and hoped to kill the boyfriend. He accidentally killed his own son. So Maggie was right after all.

During their conversations, Maggie asked Danny when was the last time he had a fun night out with a woman. It had been a long time since Linda (Amy Carlson) died, and Danny had been avoiding that. (All that fun banter with Baez must not count.) So, Danny reluctantly agreed to go out to a karaoke bar with Maggie at the end of the episode. Once there, he took the microphone and sang The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up.” Unfortunately, viewers only got a taste of Wahlberg’s vocals before the show cut to the credits. Perhaps a musical episode of Blue Bloods is not far off. New episodes of Blue Bloods air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

NKOTB released their first album in 1986 and some of their best0known hits include “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “Please Don’t Go Girl,” “Cover Girl,” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind).” The group broke up in 1994 but reunited in 2008. Since then, the group has toured off on and on, most recently in 2019. They are now plotting a 2022 tour, according to their website.