Exec Producer Ken Sanzel To Exit 'Blue Bloods' After Behind-The-Scenes Creative Tension With Tom Selleck

http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/exec-producer-ken-sanzel-to-exit-blue-bloods-after-behind-the-scenes-creative-tension-with-tom-selleck/

I learned this morning that Tom Selleck hasn't been accepting the scripts which Blue Bloods executive producer Ken Sanzel has been giving him. So a standoff developed over character vs procedural visions for the series, summarized to me as "creative tension". By midday, Sanzel was still staying with the show. No more. Insiders just told me that the former cop told the staff late today that he is leaving. There's no exit date yet. "He's a stand-up guy; he won't leave the network or studio hanging," a network source explains. "Simply creative differences. It happens. He was brought in after the pilot as a showrunner to set the show up. We often do this for pilots picked up to series that have great writers but who haven't run shows before." Now, to replace Sanzel, Selleck must find "his guy" but also someone who can meet with network approval. Further complicating the situation is that this is a high profile series because one of the executive producers is Leonard Goldberg, a CBS Corporation board member.