Donnie Wahlberg in 'Blue Bloods' Michael Parmelee/CBS Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text "Look at that sunshine," Donnie Wahlberg grins from a towering Toronto high-rise. The musician, actor and producer's gearing up for the premiere of his Blue Bloods spinoff Boston Blue, followed by New Kids on the Block's Las Vegas residency return. But rather than indulge in the relaxing "bed rot" prescribed by wife Jenny McCarthy, Wahlberg's spending a rare day off chatting to The Hollywood Reporter. It's hardly surprising for the king of "can't stop, won't stop," who regularly passes downtime sending "twugs" (virtual hugs) at a million miles per minute, breaks Guinness World Records for taking selfies and beams with the excitement of a kid while sharing weekend plans to catch his drummer son Elijah performing in Toronto - all while seamlessly juggling television, music, marriage, family and hospitality ventures. Related Stories Business Bari Weiss Asks CBS News Staff What Needs Fixing as She Seeks to Put Her Stamp on Network TV 'Survivor' Player Jake Latimer on Being Medically Evacuated From the Show and Worrying, "Am I Going to Be the First Contestant to Die?" "I thought I was used to it, but this year was really difficult - far more challenging than any time during my decade and a half doing Blue Bloods while managing my part in New Kids," Wahlberg, 56, admits. "With Blue Bloods, I could walk on set, do my part then focus on New Kids in my dressing room, but now I've added so many hats to my hat collection. I already had a lot and was stretching them pretty thin! "There was one day it was a 6 a.m. Boston Blue fitting, 10 a.m. New Kids wardrobe fitting, 12 p.m. show run-through, 4 p.m., do it again. In between, I'd watch actor auditions and give notes on the script. I haven't come up for air yet." Wahlberg's simply thrilled to keep the Blue Bloods world alive following the CBS series' startling cancellation. With its endearing family dynamics, gripping police drama and beloved cast, the 14-season series became a Friday night tradition and one of the most-watched scripted shows on television. And while plotlines revolved around the Reagan family's law enforcement work, it was their Sunday dinners that anchored the series - and marked Wahlberg's first scene in 2010. "It was the most important day in the show's history because we had to establish our characters and take chances in a new environment," he recalls. "To play my character, who was disruptive and argumentative, while sitting inches from Tom Selleck, I had to commit without worrying about stepping on toes or making other actors uncomfortable." Jumping in "full throttle" became a mantra for Wahlberg, who began acting with films like The Sixth Sense and shows like Boomtown following NKOTB's 1994 disbandment. The boy band were basking in their 2008 reunion when Blue Bloods came along. By then, Wahlberg had been acting for 20-plus years, yet it's the reunion that prepared him for portraying detective Danny Reagan. Donnie Wahlberg and Sonequa Martin-Green in Boston Blue Michele Crowe/CBS "Reuniting and touring from 2008 - getting into that routine of showing up every day, performing and being in the moment - definitely helped going into Blue Bloods. So much happens at a concert with connections being made or meet-and-greets, that there's no time to think about what I could've done differently. I didn't go on the bus every night thinking, 'I could've sung that note better.'" "The New Kids reunion prepared me for what I'd need to be Danny Reagan for so long. I couldn't take the work home or leave thinking, 'I could have done that'. It was a lot of growth because I used to perseverate on what I could've done differently." Having confidently assured crew each year that the series would be renewed, Wahlberg wallowed in denial following the cancellation. Fifteen months after shooting the finale, he's still struggling with "accepting the reality." For weeks, he waited for other networks to call, wanting the series. Meanwhile, "Blockheads" launched a petition to save the show, which amassed more than 30,000 signatures. What fans didn't realize was Wahlberg was on his own crusade to salvage Blue Bloods. Months after filming wrapped, he approached CBS with a meticulous presentation. "We were halfway into the first sentence, and they went, 'It's not happening, but we have an idea for something else,'" shares Wahlberg. "I was like, 'Hear me out about Blue Bloods.' They were like, 'It's not possible.' I probably would've continued with my list of reasons to keep doing Blue Bloods, but I also knew nobody else had called. NBC didn't call. ABC didn't call. Netflix, Fox Nation, Disney Plus, streaming services - nobody called saying, 'Let's bring Blue Bloods to our world.' "We made sacrifices to ke