Erin & Linda Reagan Update(s): Will Erin Date Again? [by Walter Carey]

Editor's note: Walter Carey writes: "David Huntley, my source for this story, is the pseudonym of an executive at CBS who asked that he or she not be named.  -- WC." See our earlier dispatch of October 13, 2017. 

Erin Reagan Boyle has stayed out of the limelight during the controversy surrounding Linda Reagan's departure from the show. Brigid Moynihan, who remains the most beautiful brunette on television, has unwittingly created a dilemma for her producers. Should they match her up with an eligible male? Should she be dating? Is the possibility of her reconciling with Boyle realistic?

The problem: as long as she remains single, Erin is an exemplary role model for single mothers and professional women. To add romance to er life would be to risk this identification. On the other hand, the female demographic has expressed itself on a tw-to-one basis favoring a dating relationship, even if it does not have a happy outcome.

The wild card is Erin's daughter, now a Columbia junior, "As long as Nicky Reagan remains an undergraduate, our hands are tied," shrugged Shumacher. The irony is not lost on the actress who plays Nicky. Should she hook up with a guy while her mother remains celibate? There is a possibility that the cardinal and the police commissioner will discuss the hypothesis the next time they play chess. Nicky does not smoke pot even though the other girls in the dormitory do but the temptation to sin is great. She is now twenty-two years old and one of the best college debaters in the nation. Erin is proud of her and their exemplary relationship so unique in the annals of mother-daughter relationships.

For our Israeli readers, consider this insight into Erin Reagan's mind:
משנת 2010 מככבת בסדרת הטלוויזיה "שוטרים בדם" המשודרת ברשת CBS. בסדרה היא מגלמת את דמותה של התובעת ארין, בת למשפחת שוטרים אירית-אמריקאית.

It has now been nearly a year since Linda Reagan''s demise on Blue Bloods, and the question that has haunted fans of the show" refuses to die. Did she jump or was she pushed? 

This remains topic number one on the set.

Those who believe Linda jumped are in the minority. "It is not in her character," said Maria Baez, Danny's partner. Maria is not related to the folksinger Joan Baez but she respects her work. Jamie Reagan shrugged and deflected questions about whether he would accept a promotion that would take him off the beat. Erin Reagan Boyle, true to her Libra nature, was non-committal but glad the conversation did not turn to her love life. Frank Reagan, wearing his signature Brooks Brothers red, white, and blue rep tie, sighed.

"The contracts of contract players are up for review each season, and that's the simple fact," Max Shumacher said. When asked point-blank if the decision to eliminate Linda Reagan from the plot was the consequence of a salary dispute with Amy Carlson, the actress who portrayed Danny Reagan's wife in the hit TV series, he would neither deny nor confirm the allegation. In October, Carlson broke her public silence to say that she didn't think her departure from the show was handled well but that it had been "an honor to be part of a superb ensemble cast" and that Danny has been very sweet about it. "He really has a gentle side, which he tries to keep under wraps," she said.

What most concerns Linda and her fans is the way the plot accommodated her sudden elimination from it and the Sunday night family dinners for which the show is famous. "It was like an execution," Felicity Unger said. Ms. Unger, vice president of the Television Psychology Association, said she spoke for other psychologists who felt that fans of the Friday night procedural need "a way to grieve, to move through it."

Linda Reagan's demise occurs off-screen, between seasons of the long-running program. It is a particularly brutal death -- she dies in a helicopter crash. "She was doing her job," the police psychologist counsels Danny, who refuses to be consoled. "She died the way she would have wanted to die -- in the line of duty, same as you." But the unsettling feeling persists that a helicopter crash represented a certain producer's hostility to Linda and the long-repressed wish to "off the bitch." -- W. C.

Those who believe Linda jumped are in the minority. "It is not in her character," said Maria Baez, Danny's partner. Maria is not related to the folksinger Joan Baez but she respects her work. Jamie Reagan shrugged and deflected questions about whether he would accept a promotion that would take him off the beat. Erin Reagan Boyle, true to her Libra nature, was non-committal but glad the conversation did not turn to her love life. Frank Reagan, wearing his signature Brooks Brothers red, white, and blue rep tie, sighed.

"The contracts of contract players are up for review each season, and that's the simple fact," Max Shumacher said. When asked point-blank if the decision to eliminate Linda Reagan from the plot was the consequence of a salary dispute with Amy Carlson, the actress who portrayed Danny Reagan's wife in the hit TV series, he would neither deny nor confirm the allegation. In October, Carlson broke her public silence to say that she didn't think her departure from the show was handled well but that it had been "an honor to be part of a superb ensemble cast" and that Danny has been very sweet about it. "He really has a gentle side, which he tries to keep under wraps," she said.

What most concerns Linda and her fans is the way the plot accommodated her sudden elimination from it and the Sunday night family dinners for which the show is famous. "It was like an execution," Felicity Unger said. Ms. Unger, vice president of the Television Psychology Association, said she spoke for other psychologists who felt that fans of the Friday night procedural need "a way to grieve, to move through it."

Linda Reagan's demise occurs off-screen, between seasons of the long-running program. It is a particularly brutal death -- she dies in a helicopter crash. "She was doing her job," the police psychologist counsels Danny, who refuses to be consoled. "She died the way she would have wanted to die -- in the line of duty, same as you." But the unsettling feeling persists that a helicopter crash represented a certain producer's hostility to Linda and the long-repressed wish to "off the bitch." -- W. C.