Boston Herald Talks to Donnie Wahlberg

The Boston Herald did an article/interview with Donnie about this week's episode of Blue Bloods. He also his brother Mark and Twitter.

Donnie Wahlberg was surprised when he got his first look at the script for this week’s episode of CBS’ “Blue Bloods” (Friday at 10 p.m. on WBZ, Ch. 4).

“There’s this very intense situation where (his character) Danny and his wife and kids come across a violent crime on the way home,” the Dorchester actor/singer said from the set in New York. “That was jarring enough, but then the episode takes a turn.”

Instead of Danny Reagan — the cop on the warpath doing things his way — viewers get an emotional look at how a police officer prepares his family for the potential of violence.

“It’s an inevitable moment for any cop who keeps a firearm in the house,” Wahlberg said. “He has to discuss it with his wife and kids — and for me, doing that scene was powerful.”

The episode, and the family element to the plot, left Wahlberg with a new “profound respect” for police officers.

“He has to slow down and take care of his children, who are very affected by this violent encounter,” Wahlberg said. “In doing so, he has to teach his kids and show them his gun. It really struck me — my initial reaction was, ‘I’m not sure I want to do this.’ But that’s Donnie speaking. I never dealt with guns. We didn’t have guns in the house when I was a child.”

Recently, his brother, actor Mark Wahlberg (“Contraband”), made some ill-considered remarks about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, leaving him red-faced and remorseful.

“I haven’t spoken to (Mark),” Wahlberg said just after the blowback from the quotes started to take hold. “But I think he said it all in his apology. It was in-appropriate. I don’t know the context of the quote or how the subject came up in the interview, but I’m concerned for him. He apologized, and I think he did the right thing in apologizing.”

Anyone curious about Wahlberg’s thoughts on how things are going on the set of “Blue Bloods,” opinions on certain episodes or even the possibility of a Patriots [team stats] Super Bowl win need only to check out the actor’s blazing Twitter account (@DonnieWahlberg).

“It’s something that didn’t exist in the music business in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” he said. “If I wanted to connect like I do now, I’d have to write 500,000 letters, get 500,000 stamps, send them out and wait for them all to come back. This stuff is instantaneous. I can see if someone is having a bad day and send them a smiley face and have an effect on them. It’s fun, but it’s also a very powerful thing.”

When does the 42-year-old actor finally stop tweeting? When the camera starts rolling.

“I tweet from the set,” he said, and then laughed. “Fans are waiting to see if I ‘twug’ (Twitter hug) them, and I’m just waiting for the director to say ‘action.’ ”