DVD Review: Detailed Featurettes Round Out Set For ‘Blue Bloods: The Second Season’

Submitted by BrianTT on September 19, 2012 - 5:04pm

CHICAGO – Honestly, most special features on DVD-only season releases for shows that don’t have gigantic followings are pure filler. They’re typically made up of the talking-head footage that a network uses to sell a show to publicists or advertisers and offer little insight into the series. That’s why it’s nice to see a show like “Blue Bloods,” a modest hit but far from a big one, get some strong supporting material for its diehard fans.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The big draw will be “A Higher Standard: The Story of the Reagans,” which runs about 45 minutes (in two parts) and allows producers to offer actual details about the themes of their show instead of just on-set anecdotes or silly platitudes. The episodes themselves have been well-transferred (above average for standard DVD) and fans will even be treated to a commentary track on the tense “The Job.”

I think “Blue Bloods” is a solid cop family drama that meets a certain need for a satisfied audience on Friday nights. It will never set the ratings or critic’s columns on fire but it has people who adore it (trust me, the weekly radio segment on which I appear gets a call about the show EVERY week). I’m happy to report that those fans will be satisfied with an above-average DVD release for their favorite show.

Blue Bloods: The Complete Second Season was released on DVD on September 11, 2012
Photo credit: CBS/Paramount

Synopsis:
It’s not a good idea to bring your work home, but for Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), that’s just not possible. Join the Reagan family for the second season of Blue Bloods with 22 riveting episodes full of intense drama.

Oldest son Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) is a detective who is suspended when he shoots an off-duty officer, and later must face off against his sister, Assistant D.A. Erin (Bridget Moynahan), during a trial. Frank’s youngest son Jamie’s (Will Esters) first case involves the Cavazerre crime family. And Frank faces a crisis of conscience when Erin reopens the case of a convicted rapist he arrested 18 years earlier, and uses DNA evidence to prove that he was innocent. But every Sunday the family gathers for dinner with Frank’s ex-commissioner father Henry (Len Cariou) and the grandkids, where the bonds of family prove to be stronger than anything.

Click here to buy “Blue Bloods”

Special Features:
o Meet The Maestro: Tony Bennett on Blue Bloods
o Commentaries By Cast and Crew on Select Episodes
o On The Set With Donnie & Will
o Keeping It Real, Season 2
o A Higher Standards: The Story Of The Reagans, Season 2
o Gag Reel
o Deleted Scenes

“Blue Bloods: The Complete Second Season” was released on September 11, 2012.