Friday, January 31, 2014

Watch a new episode of Wahlburgers

Second episode: is available on A&E's site, watch it here:
http://www.aetv.com/wahlburgers/video/5-oclock-is-dinnertime

also you can download the episode from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZ85NRK/ref=dv_dp_ep2/176-6026427-7624233
or itunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/wahlburgers/id783871427?l=es

or watch the full episode here:

ET: Donnie on Directing Tom Selleck in 'Blue Bloods' (VIDEO)


By BRYAN LYNN
January 31, 2014


Fans of the CBS crime drama Blue Bloods know Donnie Wahlberg for his role as the tough NYPD detective Danny Reagan. But Donnie also makes his directorial debut on tonight's all-new episode and we were on the set to get his take on directing his on-screen father, TV icon Tom Selleck!

"I think it was inevitable that I would eventually start directing. I think, for one, I have too much energy and find myself sort of directing scenes anyway when I'm on set," Donnie told ET recently between scenes on the Blue Bloods set. "It just seemed like a natural evolution. But I have to say that despite that it was still a little daunting."

The show -- which revolves the dramatic lives of a whole family of NYPD cops -- stars Tom Selleck as the patriarch of the Reagan family, as well as prestigious position of New York City PoliceCommissioner.

"Tom's a TV legend and he's a good actor, smart and he knows the business as good as anyone," Donnie said. "To direct him, you've got to be ready. And believe me I thought I could direct in Season 1, but I wanted to take a few years and get a few seasons under my belt before I even dared to step behind the camera and say 'cut' to Tom Selleck."

Tom said that generally on the set, actors don't tell other actors what to do, but in this case, he said Donnie stepped comfortable into the director's role. "It was just weird the first couple of times to hear him say, 'Cut,' or 'Don't do that...and I just got used to that," Tom said. "That being said, Donnie is a talented man and talented actor, and he brings that to directing and I can already see that. It's very reassuring for an actor to work with another actor as a director, because they get what we do."

Watch the video for more, including the cast members revealing who ends up eating the most during elaborate dinner scenes and to hear Donnie give a preview of his new A&E reality show Wahlburgers.

The episode of Blue Bloods -- in which Donnie's character investigates the murder of a popular drag queen from a reality television -- airs tonight at 10 p.m. on CBS.
SOURCE

Zap2 It: Interview with Donnie Wahlberg

'Blue Bloods' Donnie Wahlberg debuts as director: 'I guess I did it the right way'
By donnie1-wahlberg-blue-bloods.jpg
"It's no pressure, coming after our two highest-rated episodes since the pilot. No pressure for me at all."
So says Donnie Wahlberg, wryly, about his directing debut on CBS'"Blue Bloods" Friday (Jan. 31). He also remains very evident as an actor as his weekly character, NYPD Detective Danny Reagan, and partner Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) probe the murder of a reality-show-star drag queen. Meanwhile, Danny's prosecutor sister Erin (Bridget Moynahan) is kidnapped by a woman who wants a new investigation of her son's drug-related murder case.
"It was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun," Wahlberg tells Zap2it of working both sides of the camera. "I've kind of known that I would eventually direct at some point ... but I guess I've just watched so many directors go through so many challenges, I've always thought, at the end of the day, 'Maybe I'm more of a producer than a director.'
"It's something I was always angling toward, regardless, and I just asked if I could do an episode this year. Once they said, 'Yes,' I was in. I was on the schedule and locked in, and I just started wrapping my head around doing it. And it was just an awesome experience."

It also satisfied Wahlberg's taste for trying something else, though he allows, "I do a lot of different things with my time. I'm still in my band (New Kids on the Block) and we tour every summer and still make albums, I produce a few other TV shows, and I still have different interests and businesses.
"Sometimes when I'm on the set, working a 14-hour day as an actor," Wahlberg adds, "I get a little antsy and fidgety. Just playing the part isn't always enough, because quite frankly, I'm sitting around more than I'm on camera.


"What I didn't know is that those days would fly by as both a director and an actor. I didn't feel bored for one second; I felt completely invigorated, and I think this may be another calling for me on some level. Really trusting the cast and the team around me is what made me able to come through this episode as well as I did."


Indeed, Wahlberg is glad he waited until the fourth season of "Blue Bloods" to occupy the director's chair. "It was a big help because I've established great relationships," he reasons, "but with that said, it could have been a detriment. When you know somebody a certain way, and you're suddenly asking them for another take, it can be like, 'Wait a minute. You're my peer, you're not my director.'"

Still, Wahlberg reports, "It worked out. We all have a great rapport, and with nearly four seasons under our belts, I know how to speak to my castmates. I wasn't sure exactly what I would say between takes, but I guess I did it the right way because everyone was very responsive and things seemed to make sense. And I feel like I got really awesome performances."

Wahlberg reserves particular praise for Moynahan, deeming her "just amazing in the episode, ready and willing to try anything. Sometimes, it took some talking and explaining. I was sort of wearing that hat where guest TV directors come in and try to get the cast members, who play these parts every day, to see things their way. Now I was in the position of having to tell Bridget, 'I know you do it that way, but I'd like you to consider the possibility of doing it this way.'

"She tried it, and it really worked, and she was grateful for a lot of the suggestions. And I was grateful for her gift. To watch her go through a three-page scene crying her eyes out with her life in jeopardy [as Erin], and to still remember the notes I gave her in the middle of the scene, was overwhelming to see. I was really humbled by her work."


One of Wahlberg's aims was to give each character what he terms an "arc," one outcome being what he considers "one of the best episodes for Danny and Baez. It's subtle. A lot of the time, we'll trade off lines in the interrogation room, but the emotional track is going to go with Danny. Every actor is looking for an arc, and I wanted to find that for Marisa, so I worked really hard on fleshing out her point of view. It's a huge breakthrough for our partnership, both on screen and off."
 

Directing his television "father," Tom Selleck, also was major for Wahlberg. "We walked into the first scene together, in the office (of Selleck's alter ego, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan), and he said, 'I kind of like sitting at my desk, but I don't want to tell you how to direct the scene.' And I said, 'Tom, I don't come into this office as Donnie or Danny. This is your world. I want you to help me direct the scene. Tell me what you think you'd do, and let's go from there.' And that's what we did.

"Anybody can say anything they want about Tom Selleck, but the guy knows his stuff," notes Wahlberg. "If I didn't trust him, I'd be a fool. He's smart, he's experienced, he knows how to tell a story, he knows what the audience is thinking ... he's a master of television, and I count on him every day. We work in completely opposite ways, but we have the same goal."


Some actors prefer having less as performers while directing, particularly for the first time, but Wahlberg didn't shy away from that. "I tried to treat the episode as if I was still an actor," he explains, "and I was at my best when I stayed in my 'actor head.' When I'm on the 'Blue Bloods' set, I'm constantly giving notes and presenting ideas to the other actors, and the directors really trust me with my ideas ... so I thought it was important to stay in that head space."

Such was the case with a trademark of the show, the weekly family-dinner scene. "I never left the table," Wahlberg says. "I sat with the cast the whole time, as I would do on any episode. I'd walk behind a camera every once in a while and make sure I liked the angle on somebody, but I didn't stand off to the side and do a read-through or block the scene.
"I acted as one of the cast. They know what to do with that scene; I don't have to tell them what to do. I'm an actor first, and I treated my directing as such."

With his first "Blue Bloods" directing gig now done, Wahlberg is looking toward the next one. "We didn't get a lot of Danny and Linda this time," he says of working with on-screen "wife"Amy Carlson, "but I'm certainly going to angle for that next time. And it would be fun to go on a real journey with Will Estes (who plays Danny's fellow-cop brother Jamie) in an episode."
Lately, Wahlberg also has been familiar with the other side of the camera as an executive producer of two reality shows: A&E's current Wednesday series "Wahlburgers" -- on which his girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy, has appeared -- and TNT's police-profiling "Boston's Finest." Having starred in such other drama series as "Boomtown" and "Runaway," he knows he has a good thing with "Blue Bloods," typically the top-rated broadcast-network show on Fridays.
"We haven't had to try every twist and turn and gimmick to find the audience," he reflects. "The audience has found us, and we're really proud of the show and really grateful. And we feel like we're just hitting our stride."
SOURCE

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wahlburgers on the news

Here is a list of articles and reviews about the new serie Wahlburgers:

TV GUIDE:
Family Business: Donnie Wahlberg Previews A&E'sThe Wahlburgers

Celebrity Cameos! The Real Johnny Drama! 7 Reasons to Take a Bite out of A&E's Wahlburgers

BOSTON GLOBE
Wahlbergs serve up reality TV



VARIETY:
TV Review: ‘Wahlburgers’

BOSTON.COM:

TV Guide: Interview with Donnie Wahlberg

Family Business: Donnie Wahlberg Previews A&E'sThe Wahlburgers

Long before Marky Mark, NKOTB, Blue Bloodsand Oscar nominations, the Wahlberg brothers, and all nine siblings, were enjoying family dinners in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. And they still are — with the cameras rolling on A&E's The Wahlburgers (premiering Wed. Jan 22, 10:30/9:30c), which serves up a candid look into the family burger restaurant, lead by older brother, chef PaulDonnie gives us the dish.
TV Guide Magazine: You and your brother have been in the spotlight since your teenage years. Why do a reality show?Donnie Wahlberg: Our restaurant is the right framework for a reality show. It's not about our life. It's about a slice of our life. It's fun for the world to get a chance to see where our perceived talent came from — it's all from our mother.
TV Guide Magazine: The series really shows your hometown roots. You and Mark are worldwide celebrities, but seem to be regular guys.Wahlberg: We have a lot of fun as a family. My brother Mark makes me laugh more than anyone on the planet, and it's always been that way, since we were little kids.
TV Guide Magazine: What keeps you so grounded?Wahlberg: Our parents never subscribed to the fame and the celebrity. It makes it much easier to stay true, honest and down-to-earth. If I come over to [my mom's] house and leave a dish out, she's going to give me a hard time.
TV Guide Magazine: On the show, you and your brothers compete to be mom's favorite child. Will that ever end?Wahlberg: It's already ended, as far as I'm concerned. I was her favorite the day I was born. When she looked into my eyes, it was a done deal.
TV Guide Magazine: Other than your mom, Alma, the breakout star is your brother Paul, who's the head chef at Wahlburgers. Mark says that he's the most talented in the family. What does he mean by that?Wahlberg: All of our brothers have a lot of talent. Paul is the most talented cook in the family. Paul is the most generous Wahlberg. The undercurrent in every episode is that Paul is fighting to continue to put love into everything that he does as a chef.
TV Guide Magazine: What's your function in the business?Wahlberg: There are three people in this equation — Paul who would only like to have one Wahlburgers in Hingham, Mass.; Mark who would like to open one on Jupiter next week; and me. I translate the Hollywood blockbuster language into the simple down home cooking speak. I'm the perfect bridge between the two of them.
TV Guide Magazine: What exactly is Mark's role with the restaurant?Wahlberg: Mark's role with the restaurant is probably worldwide domination.
TV Guide Magazine: So will Wahlburgers become a big franchise?Wahlberg: Maybe just New York and L.A. But not Jupiter.
TV Guide Magazine: We meet your childhood friends, including the original Johnny "Drama," and your girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy, who has a burger named after her!Wahlberg: Yeah! She's getting a lot of stamps of approval, as she should. She's a wonderful lady. She's awesome.
TV Guide Magazine: You also have a burger named after you, the Double D. What's your perfect burger?Wahlberg: My perfect burger is definitely available at Wahlburgers — I think it's yet to be invented though. Who am I kidding? It's a Donnie burger smushed up with a Jenny burger!

SOURCE 

Wahlburger teaser: The story behind Wahlburgers

KISS 108 FM: Interview with Donnie Wahlberg (PODCAST)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Wahlbergs are the new kids on reality-TV block

Mark and Donnie are famous. Now meet Paul and mom Alma in A&E's 'Wahlburgers.'
(Photo: Zach Dilgard) 
Mark Wahlberg is a big movie star. And Donnie Wahlberg has made a big name for himself in TV and music.
But Paul Wahlberg?
He's the chef, not the star, of the family.
That all changes Wednesday with the premiere of A&E's Wahlburgers (10:30 p.m. ET/PT). The famous guys' older brother, Paul, who is 49 and fifth of the nine Wahlberg children, runs the Wahlburgers restaurant in Hingham, Mass, and is about to steal a little bit of the spotlight.
The Wahlbergs are part of a new reality show trend: stars sharing their fame with family members. Bruno Mars' sisters just wrapped a season of The Lylas onWeTV. And that network's Braxton Family Values, which stars singer Toni Braxton — and her sisters — spawned spinoff Tamar and Vince, about the actress/singer and her husband.
This bit of TV nepotism serves two goals: It gives the family a chance to cash in on a celebrity's fame, and it gives networks a promotional hook to lure viewers.
Sometimes, though, having your family on TV can take a toll.
While the Kardashians, the Robertsons (Duck Dynasty) and the Honey Boo Boofamilies have so far found the fame to be just fine, Clint Eastwood's ex-wife, Dina, starred in Mrs. Eastwood and Company for E!, and when the couple split, Peoplereported that the reality show had driven a wedge into their relationship. The Osbournes became household names with their MTV show, developed around heavy-metal star Ozzy Osbourne. But last year, Ozzy's wife, Sharon, said doing the show was the "biggest mistake" of her life.
Will the same fate befall the Boston Wahlberg clan? "Everything in our life causes arguments," says Paul Wahlberg, sounding baffled as to how TV will change anything. The good part about it all, he says, is that the family spends more time together, allowing the brothers to revert right back to childhood. "We become 10- and 12-year-olds again. We goof around."
Donnie, 44, isn't sweating it, either. "I'm not worried about showing too much of our personal lives. It's only a slice of life, not my entire life," the Blue Bloods star says via e-mail. "And I think it's good for people to get more of a sense of who we are and where we are from."
But it's not always easy for the non-star to suddenly step in front of the camera.
"I could be doing it for 20 years and not be comfortable," Paul insists during a call. The whole fame game is "just not what I do. I've been cooking for 30 years," he says.
When reminded that the show follows the brothers as they look to expand the restaurant business, Paul deadpans, "I can't figure out for the life of me who'd be interested in it. It seems mundane and dull to me."
Donnie Wahlberg has a much more lighthearted attitude about the series. "Why not do it? Life is boring if you take yourself too seriously."
Also stepping into the spotlight is mom Alma, 71. Like Mama June Shannon, Kris Jenner and Phil Robertson, she's the all-important leader of the family.
"I was very hesitant and nervous at first," she says about being on camera. But her sons persuaded her. "They said, 'You can talk to a wall, Ma. You won't have any trouble.'"
Also in the show is the real Johnny "Drama" Alves, on whom the Entourage character is based, and Henry "Nacho" Laun, another childhood pal.
For the Wahlbergs, family is everything. But one question, brought up in the first episode, lingers: Each son wants to know which one is Alma's favorite.
"I am Alma's favorite. There is no question about it," Donnie says. "Paul only substitutes when I am out of town. Mark can take solace in the fact that he was our dad's favorite."
Paul says "it depends on who's in the room."
And Alma? "Whoever I'm with at the time," she says. "They're all so unique in their own way. I'm really proud of them. Not just the success, but how they've turned out. They're really good people. I wouldn't care if they were ditchdiggers, as long as they're good people."
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SOURCE 

Wahlburgers on Entertainment Tonight (VIDEO)

wait til minute 14 for the segment.:

Sunday, January 19, 2014

new Wahlburgers promo

NY Post: Stars Mark, Donnie can’t flip ‘Wahlburgers’

Stars Mark, Donnie can’t flip ‘Wahlburgers’
BROTHERS IN ARMS: Mark (left) Paul and Donnie Wahlberg star in "Wahlburgers," which premieres Wednesday night.
Even the most casual TV viewer can recite the familiar reality-show tropes: forced drama/comedy, contrived situations and the requisite “types” — The Good One, The Bad One, The Bossy One, The Nice One, The Wacky One, The Reliable One.
You get the picture.
That’s the simplest way to describe “Wahlburgers,” a tepid entry into the never-ending gaping maw of reality TV. The show offers nothing new to the oversaturated genre save for the slightly interesting involvement of celebrity brothers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, who both appear in and executive-produce “Wahlburgers,” premiering Wednesday on A&E. “Wahlburgers” refers to the name of the family’s successful burger joint near Boston, which is located directly across the street from their other, more upscale restaurant, Alma Nove. The “stars” here are family patriarch Alma Wahlberg and her oldest son, Paul, who runs Wahlburgers and helps out at Alma Nove, named after Mom. (“Nove,” or “nine” in Italian, refers to the nine Wahlberg children.)
Paul is hard-working, focused and a worry wart; Alma is domineering-yet-loving, obviously rules the family roost and takes no guff from anyone, including famous sons Donnie (currently starring in “Blue Bloods” on CBS) and Mark (Oscar nominee and “Entourage” executive producer/guest star). ’Nuf said.
Mark and Donnie are partners in Wahlburgers; Mark, in particular, is gung-ho on expanding the business and opening a second location, and therein lies the opener’s dramatic rub — do the brothers open another Wahlburgers in another state (or even country — Mark alludes to offers from Ireland and the Middle East) or keep the family-run business within the confines of their Boston hometown? (The family hails from Dorchester, a Beantown neighborhood.)
And that, folks, is about it. There’s lots of back-and-forth between the brothers about Alma — how much they love her, how tough she is, how much they respect her — and about how much “family” means to all of them. We get it. Each brother obsesses so much on whether or not he’s Mom’s favorite that you begin to wonder why these grown men need so much maternal validation. Perhaps some family therapy is in order (now that would be interesting).

source 

Meet the Wahlbergs - The Boston Globe


Wahlbergs serve up reality TV
By Mark ShanahanFrom left: Mark, Paul, and Donnie Wahlberg. A&E
From left: Mark, Paul, and Donnie Wahlberg.
HINGHAM — What took so long?
Anyone even vaguely familiar with the turbulent back story of the brothers Wahlberg could see that a reality TV show was likely, if not inevitable. We already had a name for it. Given the family’s history of run-ins with the law on the mean streets of Dorchester, the show would be called “Wahlbrawlers.”
No such luck. “Wahlburgers,” premiering Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. on A&E, instead takes its name from the family’s hamburger restaurant in Hingham. And the star of the show isn’t Donnie or Mark Wahlberg, the onetime Dot rats who went on to achieve utterly improbable fame and fortune. It’s their brother Paul, another of the nine children raised by the family’s unflagging matriarch, Alma Wahlberg.
“My brothers got me into this kicking and screaming,” says Paul, a 49-year-old chef who oversees the day-to-day operations of the family’s burger joint. “I would be quite content plugging away in the restaurant. Television is not what I do.”

Judging from the first episode, he’s right. As reality TV types go, Paul is not terribly provocative. Pasty-faced and relentlessly polite, he won’t be confused with, say, Phil Robertson, the hirsute hunter from A&E’s popular “Duck Dynasty.” And aside from a few grease stains on his smock, he has little in common with Gordon Ramsay, the foul-mouthed master chef who hosts “Hell’s Kitchen.” Paul’s most compelling trait may be his high level of anxiety. The guy spends most of the first show simply fretting — about the restaurant’s opening, about new locations, about business meetings with his brothers.
“He’s such a worrywart,” Mark says at one point. “Paul ages a couple of years every couple of months.”
“Wahlburgers” is the latest and most personal of several reality TV projects being produced by the Wahlberg clan. Donnie is behind “Boston’s Finest,” the TNT program about the Boston Police Department, while Mark is working on a show inspired by the teased-hair harpies of “The Fighter,” and another series about a group of real-life nerds at MIT that is loosely based on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”
“Whatever this becomes, that’s what it is,” Paul says of “Wahlburgers,” sounding ambivalent about being on TV. “I trust my brothers and I trust A&E. I’m just trying to do what’s expected, trying to make the show entertaining and to keep the business going.”
Opened two years ago, Wahlburgers is the first of what the family hopes will be a worldwide chain of patty emporiums. (“I’ve had offers to open in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” Mark boasts in the first episode, clearly not content with one restaurant tucked behind a Bed Bath & Beyond in a mall on the South Shore.) On a good day, Paul says, the restaurant sells 1,500 burgers. But take down the oversize images of Donnie and Mark, and there isn’t much that distinguishes Wahlburgers from Tasty Burger, Five Guys, or Shake Shack.
Yes, the menu includes a Double Decker burger (“like our friend’s house down the street”) and a Triple Decker burger (“like the house we grew up in”) — both topped with “Wahl sauce, dill pickles and government cheese” – but nothing about the place screams Savin Hill.Paul Wahlberg, chef at Wahlburgers, is the star of the A&E reality series.DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
Paul Wahlberg, chef at Wahlburgers, is the star of the A&E reality series.
The most interesting parts of the TV show take place outside the restaurant and relate to the Wahlbergs’ dysfunctional family life before Donnie became a boy band star with New Kids on the Block, and Mark morphed from beefcake underwear model to heavyweight Hollywood actor/mogul. Paul and his mother reminisce outside the family’s former home on Mercier Avenue — the scene, no doubt, of some serious drama — and we meet a couple of family friends, including glassy-eyed rogue Johnny Alves, the basis for the Johnny Drama character on HBO’s “Entourage.”
“We do what we do. We bring the party, bro,” Alves says in the debut episode, making us more than a little sorry “Wahlburgers” isn’t about him.
But the show does not dwell too long on the past, and it makes only oblique reference to the inglorious incidents for which the family is sometimes remembered, notably Mark’s arrest in the 1980s for beating two Vietnamese men, leaving one of them partially blind.
“Our family had a lot of ups and downs,” Donnie says in the show. “One of us was usually locked up or running away from something. The time we could be together sharing anything positive was always a special time for us.”Johnny Alves (left) and Mark Wahlberg pictured on the show.A&E
Johnny Alves (left) and Mark Wahlberg pictured on the show.
A&E has nine episodes of “Wahlburgers” in the can, so it’s possible the family’s colorful history will be featured more prominently in the future. For now, though, the focus is on Paul, whose humble beginning in the restaurant business was washing dishes at Trolley’s, a bar near the old Boston Garden. The first in the family to graduate from high school, he also briefly studied culinary arts at Newbury College in Brookline.
“Listen to that sizzle,” Paul said the other day, sitting at a table at Wahlburgers with no cameras hovering nearby. “The best thing about a burger is you can make it whatever you want.”
Although they’re partners in the show, the brothers are not spending more time together than before. That’s because Donnie lives in New York, where he stars in the CBS drama “Blue Bloods,” and Mark is in Los Angeles, where he’s making movies and building a 30,000-square-foot French manor. Their lives are very different.
“No, we don’t talk daily,” says Paul. “I don’t think they want to listen to me and I don’t know if I want to listen to them.”

source 

Behind the Scenes of Blue Bloods With Donnie Wahlberg

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Joey to appear as a guest on "'Hotwives of Orlando' soon

Orlando was picked as the show’s location because it’s “a perfect city that exemplifies trash,” Sheer says. In addition to Scheer, Wilson (Happy Endings), and Kinsey (The Office), the cast includes Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords), Tymberlee Hill (Drunk History), and Andrea Savage (Step Brothers) with special appearances by Kate Walsh (Private Practice), Weird Al Yankovic (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!), Joey McIntyre (The Heat), Stephen Tobolowsky (Glee), and many more. As for hopping on the streaming series bandwagon, Scheer is excited to be a part of the emerging trend, noting it took years for people to completely catch on to cable networks. “There’s been a change in the last year. In terms of pitching to a network, Hulu is no different than FX or Comedy Central. They are all the same.”
SOURCE 

#afewgoodminutes Bonus -- Donnie Wahlberg on Boston Mayor Tom Menino

Friday, January 3, 2014

Donnie Wahlberg interview with METRO UK

Donnie Wahlberg: I knew all the cops because they’d arrested all my brothers
Donnie Wahlberg plays a cop in Blue Bloods but it was his brothers who attracted the law’s attention while growing up (Picture: Getty)

Donnie Wahlberg: I knew all the cops in my area because they’d arrested all my brothers
The 44-year-old singer and actor found fame in the late 1980s in boy band New Kids On The Block. He is now recording with the reformed NKOTB.
How different is the music scene now to when you started out in the 1980s? 
In the music world there seem to be fewer opportunities for establishing yourself as a recording artist – you have a better chance of becoming famous or maintaining a pop career now if you are on a television show like American Idol or The X Factor. Radio stations play so little music and MTV barely plays any music videos, so the window for artists to fit into has just become so much smaller. You can be a lot more famous now in the music business but to really make a living and have a career is tricky.
How does performing live compare with 20 years ago – are you still able to fling yourself around stadiums with the same amount of energy? 
When I was younger and performing, everything was such an adrenalin rush. I would run on stage and be hyperventilating in the middle of the first song, singing too loud and not pacing myself at all. At 20 I could do that. I would still have enough energy to make it through the rest of the show but, at 43, I have to take a different approach. I’m like a veteran in a sport now. But in some ways, pacing myself and stretching for an hour before every show and slowing it all down, I’ve learnt to be a better performer. These days, I really take my time and treat a concert more like a movie. 
How have your fans changed – have they become less crazed than when they came to see you as teenagers?
They’re sometimes just as crazy and they scream as loud now as they did when they were teenagers, which is amazing. I took my son and his friends to see Justin Bieber and there was a lot of screaming. The other parents were like: ‘This is so loud.’ I said: ‘That’s nothing.’ 
You’re also an established actor these days, with a regular role on Blue Bloods. Do you think television has changed a lot in recent years too? 
Television has changed a lot but I think it’s the opposite situation to music – there are so many cable networks producing shows, and so many opportunities for actors to work in great-quality stuff. When I first got into acting, a lot of the actors I was competing with, my peers, said they didn’t want to do TV. I always wanted to do TV, though, because I was looking for the opposite of the rock-star lifestyle, which was something consistent – checking in every day and sort of punching a clock seemed fascinating to me. 
You’re playing a police officer in Blue Bloods but didn’t you have a rather misspent youth, like some of your brothers and band members? 
Most of my interaction with the police when I was young was when they were arresting my family members. Fortunately, I was rarely in their cars myself. I was the good son, I guess – I didn’t like being in trouble. I still knew all the cops from my area because they had arrested all my brothers, so when I walked down the street they would watch me to see if I had a knife and check what I was up to. Luckily, I was usually going to baseball or something else productive. As for playing a cop, I think now that I am in my forties I’m playing the role I was born to play and I can finally be convincing as a policeman or detective. 
Your character, Danny, has become progressively smarter as the show has gone on – has he had some styling advice? 
Well, my suits have become progressively tighter over the seasons, as the network has encouraged me to wear nicer, less sloppy suits. Now they are really, really tight. And I have a rather big bum to begin with – it’s true – so my trousers are really tight now. One night on set I was making a Vine video clip and I said my trousers were so tight you could break a board over my ass. It just so happened that one of the set decorators had a board standing by and they broke it over my ass. They are public Vines – you can watch them. 
You have a restaurant, Wahlburger, in Massachusetts with your brothers – is there anything your family can’t do? 
I’m not a good cook. I can cook a bowl of cereal but my brother Paul, and the rest of my brothers, are really talented. When we were kids, other people would always call us all Wahlburger, so we figured we’d get the last laugh and open a burger joint and call it that. Truthfully, Paul has a hugely successful restaurant in Massachusetts and he came to Mark and me with the idea of opening a burger place. He lives in a town where there is no burger joint, only a McDonald’s, and he wanted to open one to serve that town and to make a quality product. Once we put the name on it, though, it just took on a life of its own.
Blue Bloods is on Thursdays at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.