Ramblings on "Blue Bloods" and other procedurals that would otherwise have potential

I recently watched half of the first episode of the new CBS show "Blue Bloods", a show about a multi-generational police family. I thought this could be a really interesting family drama, but it turned out to be nothing more than a standard police procedural. It really annoys me when things like this happen. It's not like there aren't enough police or legal procedurals on TV. If I want to watch one of those, I'll just turn on one of the CSI's sometime. They're all entertaining, but the only one I've ever found compelling enough to watch regularly was the dearly departed "Numb3rs". And  I guess the even more prematurely departed "Pushing Daisies" kind of counts. "Blue Bloods" had the potential to be a really good show. It's an interesting premise, and it had a pretty talented (or at least famous) cast (Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Andrea Roth, etc.). To me, it looks like CBS messed the show up.

Of course they've done this before. CBS has more procedurals than any other network, and just last year they took another great-looking show and turned it into one. I'm speaking, of course, of "The Good Wife".  That show's premise was so interesting! It took the disgraced former politician, and focused on how his wife would handle the whole fall from grace thing. But of course, the way she handled it was by becoming a practicing lawyer once again, so she could take on a fascinating new case every week. And there goes a great actress (Julianna Margulies) and a great story.

I hate that the TV networks are too close-minded to do have any kind of variation in their lineups. The only kind of dramatic shows you see on broadcast TV are procedurals, and you have to go to cable for interesting things like "Mad Men" and "Rescue Me".

Like I say, I hate pop culture.