Tom Selleck says he took huge CBS pay cut on Blue Bloods as he shares 'frustration'
Tom Selleck says he took huge CBS pay cut on Blue Bloods as he shares 'frustration'
Niti Majethia Fri, July 31, 2026 at 2:41 PM UTC
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Tom Selleck starred in Blue Bloods (Image: CBS ENTERTAINMENT)
Tom Selleck has rekindled his longstanding beef with CBS over the cancellation of his show Blue Bloods, alleging that the cast even accepted a huge pay cut to keep the show going.
The actor, 81, played the role of New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan on the CBS police drama, running for 14 seasons. On Wednesday's episode of Ted Danson's podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tom claimed that the cast, including Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, and Will Estes, accepted a massive 25 percent pay cut to prolong the show.
"The real truth to that is in the last year of [the series], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We'd already taken a 25% cut in salary," he said, adding they had already "done all sorts of things to keep the show going." he said. Last year, CBS announced a Blue Bloods spin-off.
Tom Selleck devastated at Blue Bloods axing and says it was 'taken for granted'
Tom Selleck unrecognizable as he debuts full grey beard after Blue Bloods axed
Tom Selleck was disappointed with the show's cancellation (Image: CBS via Getty Images)
Tom reportedly earned approximately $200,000 an episode for Blue Bloods, totaling up to $4.4 million per season. However, this dropped to $150,000 per episode for the final season, according to the Daily Mail.
Tom remarked that "nobody wanted to leave" and that the show was "certainly not out of ideas."
"Out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our fifteenth year. Nobody wanted to leave. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time," he said.
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In a 2024 interview with TV Insider, Tom expressed his disappointment with the show's cancellation. "During those last eight shows, I haven't wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful," he said.
Blue Bloods ran for a total of 14 seasons comprising 293 episodes (Image: CBS via Getty Images)
"In a Top 100 Shows of 2023-2024 (in total viewers, we were number 9 out of 100), if you discount the three football shows, we're #6!" he exclaimed.
"My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go," he continued. "I'm not going to turn into a bitter old guy saying, 'Get off my lawn!' I don't believe in holding grudges, but if you were to say to the television network, 'Here's a show you can program in the worst time slot you got, and it is going to guarantee you winning Friday night for the next 15 years, it would be almost impossible to believe."
At the time, the actor said it would "take a while" for him to move on.
"I remember after the weekend [of the final episode's shoot], I said, 'I've got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.' Well, there was no Monday. It's just going to take a while," he said.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
