'Blue Bloods' Ratings Hit New Low

Blue Bloods returned from its latest mini-break on Friday to low ratings. According to TV Line, the Tom Selleck-led series dipped to series lows with 6 million total viewers and a 0.4 demographic rating. Still, with the low return, Blue Bloods was the largest audience of Friday night's offerings. The show also was preceded by MacGyver, with 4.4 million viewers, and Magnum P.I., with 5.4 million viewers.

As TV Line points out, the schedule for Blue Bloods and other series has been a bit wonky this season. COVID-19 certainly has played a part in this, along with the shorter episode order for season 11. The show is just coming back from a two-week break, so it could be expected to see a dip in viewers.

For those who didn't get to tune in to the new episode, the show welcomed back Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli as Attorney General Robert Lewis and continued the hunt for a serial killer with detectives Maria Baez, played by Marisa Ramirez, and Danny Reagan, played by Donnie Wahlberg. The episode played around with the relationship between Baez and Reagan, including how close they're becoming.

Ramirez spoke with PopCulture.com about the season and her run on the show, singling out her first dinner scene as an important moment during her time on the series. "It's eight years I've been there now, and it was actually very emotional for me on so many levels, which I didn't share with anyone at the time," Ramirez said in our series, PopCulture @Home. "Because first of all, it was emotional and a little nerve-racking for me, as it was the first time I was in a room with so many people without masks on."

Ramirez also shared that the moment carried extra weight due to the loss of her grandmother only a few weeks prior to filming the dinner scene. Filming with Tom Selleck also raised the moment's intensity. "I so badly wanted to say something to Tom about the fact that, 'My grandmother was such a huge fan of yours,'" Ramirez said. "But I knew I wouldn't have been able to get out the words without crying."

With the end of the latest episode, it seems more seeds have been planted between Baez and her partner on the show. It'll be interesting to see the story play out in coming episodes, along with some hopeful bumps in the ratings along the way.