Tom Selleck says he could lose his 63-acre Ventura County, California ranch if CBS does not renew his long-running police drama Blue Bloods.
The veteran actor, 79, appearing on CBS Sunday Morning, said he’s in jeopardy of not being able to keep up with his bills if the network does not continue on with the series, in which he plays Frank Reagan, the police commissioner of New York City.
‘You know, hopefully I keep working enough to hold onto the place,’ Selleck said, to which CBS correspondent Tracy Smith responded, ‘Seriously, that’s an issue? If you stopped working?’
Selleck said, ‘That’s always an issue – if I stopped working, yeah. Am I set for life? Yeah, but maybe not on a 63-acre ranch!’
Selleck was asked if Blue Bloods, which has been on since 2010, was drawing to a conclusion, following reports the show, which is also syndicated, would end this fall after the second-half of its 14th season.
‘Well, that’s a good question – I will continue to think that CBS will come to their senses,’ Selleck said.
The leading man said that the series, which also stars Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou, Will Estes and Steve Schirripa, continues to be a successful endeavor for the network.
‘We’re the third-highest scripted show in all of broadcast,’ Selleck said. ‘We’re winning the night. All the cast wants to come back.’
The Detroit-born star said that the police drama continues to thrive commercially and creatively.
‘I can tell you this: we aren’t sliding off down a cliff,’ Selleck said. ‘We’re doing good shows, and still holding our place. So, I don’t know – you tell me!’
Selleck said that despite six decades in the business, including network shows, feature films and endorsement deals, he continues to have a sense of concern about future work.
‘As an actor, you never lose – I don’t lose, anyway – that sense that every time I finish a job, it’s my last job,’ he said. ‘I like the fact that there’s no excuses! You just go to work and you do the work.
‘And I have a lot of reverence for what I call “the work,” and I love it. And I’d like to keep doing it.’
Speaking about the potential conclusion of the series earlier this year, Selleck said he believed ‘CBS will find an awful lot of people aren’t ready to say goodbye to it.
He told TV Insider in January: ‘The show’s more popular than ever, and I think [numbers] will increase with the interest this year. We’re certainly not out of ideas.’
Selleck has been married to wife Jillie since 1987 and they are parents to daughter Hannah, 35; he’s also father to son Kevin, 58, from his previous marriage to Jacqueline Ray.
He bought the ranch, a one-time avocado farm, in 1988 following his stint on the CBS series Magnum, P.I.