In Season 6, Episode 1 of “The Wahlburgers,” the A&E reality TV show that showcases the Wahlberg family, “Blue Bloods” star Donnie Wahlberg engineered a vote to determine his mother Alma’s favorite son. But it did not seem to go as planned.
Donnie, a self-professed mama’s boy, came in second. And he was not happy about it, either.
“This election is rigged!” Donnie declared, after a stunned silence. “This is rigged.”
So who won the vote? Not Mark, Donnie’s Oscar-nominated brother. And not Bob, an employee at a Boston-area power company who still lives in the Wahlbergs’ original neighborhood of Dorchester. It was Paul, a chef who helps run the Wahlbergs’ hamburger restaurant chain, Wahlburgers.
Watch the “Blue Blood” star’s reaction to his second-place finish here:
Will Wahlberg’s ‘Blue Bloods’ Character Fall for His Partner?
On “Blue Bloods, Wahlberg’s character, Danny Reagan, is still mourning the loss of his wife Linda (Amy Carlson). But once he makes his peace with her passing, is there a chance he’ll move on with his partner, Detective Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez)?
Not likely, showrunner Kevin Wade recently told TV Insider. Just because Reagan’s younger brother Jamie (Will Estes) wound up marrying his partner doesn’t mean the older brother is going to follow suit.
“We recognize it,” Wade said of the chemistry between Reagan and Baez. “And certainly the actors like each other, in front of the camera and between setups.”
However, he added, “I’m gonna use Sam and Diane from ‘Cheers’ and really age myself here, but once it happens, there’s nowhere to go. There really aren’t stories in happy couples and there are definitely not stories in police detectives on the job having a personal relationship with their partner.”
There’s another concern, too. If the two started up a personal relationship, the show’s writers might have to add new professional partners for each of them. And with a limited timeframe for each episode, there isn’t much room to squeeze in those extra scenes.
“We have so little real estate as the show grows,” Wade said. “It’s 43 minutes and we have to keep an eye on what we have room for.”
Looks like Wahlberg fans can’t count on a dramatic expansion of his already substantial “Blue Bloods” screen time. But at least the show has been renewed for Season 12, so there’s more “Blue Bloods” on the way in the near future.