Len Cariou Talks Show Ending, Last Family Dinner, Henry and Erin

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 13 “Bad to Worse.”]

Henry (Len Cariou) surprises Erin (Bridget Moynahan) twice in the latest Blue Bloods episode.

First, she’s shocked to hear that he’s going to testify for the defense about the NYPD’s evolution on its chokehold policy during her case against a former cop who used one on a neighbor over a fence dispute. When she confronts him, he just says the case is important needs expert testimony and he knows how to judge people. But then in court, on the stand, he speaks about how the defendant is one of those cops who’s the reason why chokeholds got banned. He didn’t clue Erin in because he didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Below, Cariou talks about the fun of that, his final days on set, and the show ending.

Watching the scene in the courtroom, it seemed almost like Henry was having fun on the stand, being able to surprise Erin.

Len Cariou: Yeah, he was. Being able to, in a sense, dupe her was great fun for Henry.

CBS

I also liked the last scene with you and Bridget in Erin’s office and how Henry’s like, all right, where’s the scotch? We got quite a bit of you two together in this episode.

I think the writers [wanted] to have some screen time with the two of them because they had had such a great history over the run of the show, and they were such great favorites, she being the only female in the group, and he’d always be saying to her, my favorite granddaughter, and she’d always say, “You mean your only granddaughter, smartass.” [Laughs]

What was your last day on set like?

I was thinking about that just a few minutes ago. It was pretty bittersweet. The last scene, of course, was at a funeral, and so we weren’t even in the house the day that we wrapped it up. I was finished that day myself and several of the others, Tom [Selleck]‘s group of guys, Bridget and Steve [Schirripa], and the others, they were done that day, too, before the rest of the episode was finished. So it was kind of strange in that sense, just like any other day, any other week. And we had just kind of gotten used to the fact that we had said our goodbyes, if you will, with not a lot of emotional times together. So we said, okay, that’s over and done with, and we’ll stay in touch if we can. And then lo and behold, a couple of weeks ago, we all got together for the wrap-up, for the launch of the last eight shows, and that was bittersweet. I just got used to the fact that we said our goodbyes and then everybody was back in the room together, and that made it a little bit difficult for me.

What was it like filming the last family dinner?

Emotional. Yeah, it was pretty emotional. It wasn’t the last thing we did, but it was nice in one sense to be in the room together, but it was a tough day for us. And not everybody, of course, on the show is there when we’re filming that. So there’s that fragment of it. But the interesting thing about that was that the very first scene that we filmed when we made the pilot was the dinner scene. The first thing we put on film was that scene back in Episode 101. So that was pretty interesting. We talked a bit about that because there were a couple of cast changes when the show finally launched. So it was pretty emotional.

Having those family dinners every week was so great because even though they argue, you can still feel the love.

Yeah, that was Leonard Goldberg’s idea, to have that in every episode because he wanted to show the world that aspect of a family, of a cop family, how they functioned away from the job. So it was kind of the core of the whole thing. Mr. Goldberg thought that was going to be—it was a gamble for him. He wanted it to be in every episode if it worked. And so when we all got together that first day, we said, “Why are we doing this as the first thing that we’re filming? We hardly know one another. We’re supposed to be a family—and multi-generational yet.” But he said, “I got to make sure that it works. If it doesn’t work, then I’m going to have to rethink things.” But after he saw it, he said, “It works well. I can’t imagine the thing without the family dinner. I don’t think it would’ve been the same show at all.”

How has it been saying goodbye to the show and Henry now? You talked a bit about it earlier.

Tough. It was tough because it happened to be at the wrap party of the launch of the last eight. It was around my birthday, so I had a birthday cake for me at the party, so it was special.

I cannot wait to see how the show ends, but I do wish it was continuing.

Yeah, it’s too bad. Doesn’t make any sense. We’re still, I think, the best-watched show on Friday nights, even though we’re canceled.

Blue Bloods consistently does well on Friday nights. That’s impressive.

Yeah, it always has. And I think when they launched us there Friday nights, think about 14, 15 years ago—we weren’t really thrilled with Friday night at 10. Friday has not been—was at least at that point not really a very popular time, the first show on the weekends, and we thought, well, it’s not a very good time slot. But because of Tom, and I think he has such a great following on CBS, that once they saw the show, they said, “No, it doesn’t matter. It’s really good. So they’ll make it work on Fridays.” And they thought about moving us to another night way back then, and we said, I think Mr. Goldberg said, “No, we’ll own Friday nights.” And sure enough, we did.

Blue Bloods, Fridays, 10/9c, CBS