Blue Bloods season 13 will be shortest season to date

Blue Bloods is going to look a little different in season 13. The police procedural is one of countless shows that have been affected by the writers and actors strikes, and pushed back to 2024 instead of airing during its usual time slot in the fall. All of the major cast and crew members are returning, but they will be working with far less screen time than usual.

According to TV Line, season 13 will have 10-13 episodes. This is a stark contrast to the normal Blue Bloods seasons, which averages 22 episodes. This is due to the fact that the actors strike has delayed production by several months, and led to a condensed time in which to make new stories. The same shortened episode count has been given to CBS shows like Fire Country and So Help Me Todd.

How many episodes will be in Blue Bloods season 13?

Where does a 10-13 episode season rank among the rest of the Blue Bloods seasons in terms of length? Well, unfortunately, right at the bottom. The show has been hit with scheduling problems in recent years, especially during the 2020 pandemic, which led to a 16 episode season, but it has always managed to cross the 15 mark. In fact, the aforementioned season 11 is only one of two instances in which Blue Bloods failed to crack 20 (the other was season 10, which had 19 total).

This condensed season makes sense from an actors as well as a writers perspective. While the actors were finally able to reach an agreement with the studios on Wednesday, November 8, the writers reached an agreement a month earlier and are currently scrambling to write an entire season of television in record time.

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There has been no word on whether the Blue Bloods writers room is opened up, but given that the writers rooms for other procedural shows are back up and running, its safe to assume that stories are being put into motion. Generally, writers have the summer to work on new episodes, but they only have a window of a month and a half (depending on when their specific show resumed work), so they are most certainly under the gun.

Limiting the upcoming season to 10-13 episodes may seem disappointing, but it will also ensure that the quantity of the scripts and the performances remain intact. It’s better to get a good, short season, than one that’s closer to the usual number of episodes and is a complete mess.

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