'Blue Bloods' Friday: Are The Story Lines Taken From The Headlines?

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Is the art imitating life? Are the story lines taken from the headlines? "Often, it looks like we have because we are headline with a genuine police issue, but that story was conceived four or five months before that aired," Tom Selleck explained.

The real stories, a series of high profile fatal shootings that have our nation reeling, appear to bother this cast as well.

Blue Bloods looks to reinforce the thought that a few bad apples don't spoil the whole bunch.

"There's a real conversation going on that needs to take place. My job is to play a police officer. We play heroes on this show. We play guys and girls that go out and do their best to get it right," said Will Estes.

But sometimes, in the real world, things do go terribly wrong and the pain is felt on many levels.

"If you really want to heal, you got to open the wounds and it's gonna hurt," said Donnie Wahlberg. "There's got to be an ugly discussion. People are going to have to air out their stuff and when you do that, then you can take steps toward healing."

This show hopes to help promote discussion and do it by not saying what's right and what is not. "What we try to do is have worthy adversaries and present some balance," Selleck said. "What's important to point out...we're doing fiction."

Which at times can be an inspiring message to effect reality.