Post by Sam Viviano

Last October, along with Desmond Devlin, John Ficarra, Jim Campbell and Sergio Aragonés, I put together a parody of the long-running CBS series, “Blue Bloods,” at the behest of the show’s executive producer, Kevin Wade. (I posted about this project in October.) I had hoped to wangle a visit to the “Blue Bloods” set in Brooklyn out of the deal, but the pandemic put the kibosh on that idea. A sort of consolation prize came during last Friday’s episode of the show. About fifteen minutes in, during a routine staff meeting, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck himself!) asks for any updates. “Disciplinary action on Officer Viviano” blurts his special assistant, Sid Gormley (Robert Clohessy). Turns out that “Officer Viviano” was found asleep in his squad car, which (gasp!) is against the rules. Commissioner Reagan deals with the matter quickly, and then it’s on to other business. We never actually see this Officer Viviano. It was fun to get a shout-out on the show, but I do believe the incident deserved fuller treatment. I could imagine the Commissioner going to the scene himself, only to find that Officer Viviano is a retired cartoonist, moonlighting as a cop to supplement his Social Security earnings. And I can think of someone who’d be perfect to play the part!