Friday dramas return: high-stakes and mid-siege

When CBS’ Friday dramas finally return, they’ll find tough times.
There’s a big blaze in “Fire Country” (there usually is) at 9 p.m., Feb. 27, a big case in “Blue Bloods” at 10. And a siege in “Sheriff Country,” at 8.
Yes, a siege, sort of like the old days of catapults and fireballs and such. In this case, the sheriff’s headquarters is being overwhelmed.
“It was a very carefully choreographed, staged area,” Morena Baccarin (shown here) told the Television Critics Association. “We had to … tell a very consistent story of being under siege, running out of ammo and having no radio connectivity to the outside world.”
By now. viewers might settle for anything that’s not a rerun. All of CBS’ scripted shows took nine-week breaks, not returning to new episodes until after the Olympics.
Now the Fridays shows go for high-stakes stories. “Fire Country” flashes back and forth, between a deadly blaze and a subsequent probe; on “Boston Blue,” Jonah is in trouble after seeking vengeance for his dad’s murder.
First, however, there’s that siege. Sheriff Mickey Fox (Baccarin) has arrested the head of the Barlow clan; soon, her small crew is under attack.
There was weapons training before the season started, Baccarin said, but this needed more. “There were so many things I learned about other weapons — shotguns and flash grenades and what-not.”
Then there were the five days of filming, “hunkered down behind desks and stuff …. My knees were really taking a beating.”
Any of the Friday stars might feel overwhelmed at times.
Donnie Wahlberg, for instance, keeps a double life — singing with New Kids On the Block and playing police detective Danny Reagan, first on “Blue Bloods” and now on its “Boston Blue” spin-off.
“I’ve done this for a decade and a half, … touring every summer and filming the other nine months of the year,” he said. It’s “what I’ve worked for my whole life.”
Max Thieriot has a different sort of overload. He stars in “Fire Country” and is a producer on that show and on “Sheriff Country,” with duties on both.
“I watch cuts, I get dailies every day, I give notes — it’s a lot,” Thieriot said. “I won’t lie, it ends up being a heck of a lot …. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
But yes, it would be nice to follow “Fire Country” and “Sheriff Country” with something gentler. “We’ve been talking about ‘Vacation Country,'” he joked. “Or ‘Wine Country.'”