Oh, hey, they killed S.W.A.T. last night
The CBS procedural's currently running sixth season will now be its last
Aux News S.W.A.T.
We’ve remarked, on more than one occasion, that there’s no time of the week scarier for the producers of a TV show on the cancellation bubble than Friday nights. Coming as it does at the end of the traditional work week—when most people, including news writers, aren’t paying a ton of attention—Friday night is essentially the TV executive version of an abandoned parking lot with no security cameras, a safe spot to, uh, dispose of your problem shows with a swiftly implemented cancellation order and a quick wiping of the hands.
And a Friday night at the end of the first week of the WGA’s writers strike? Hoo boy, somebody at CBS was ready for S.W.A.T. to go. Which is to confirm, per Variety, that the six-season police procedural won’t be a seven-season one, with the network pulling the plug on the series last night.
For at least some of us, S.W.A.T.—based on the 1975 cop show of the same name—has largely floated in our minds as the answer to “What’s Shemar Moore been up to since he left Criminal Minds?” The series starred Moore as a character it insisted we think of as “Hondo,” alongside (in its final season) Alex Russell, Kenny Johnson, Jay Harrington, David Lim, and Rochelle Aytes. The series centered on a police unit operating in Los Angeles, with Moore’s Hondo frequently subjected to tensions between his loyalty to the community he grew up in and the force.
S.W.A.T. is currently still in the midst of airing what will now be its final season, with the finale running on May 19. The show has actually had a modest uptick in ratings of late, after dipping in recent seasons—not enough to save it, clearly, but they did at least get the courtesy of a condolence note from CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach:
For six seasons, the amazing talents of the S.W.A.T. cast led by Shemar Moore, the writers, producers and crew guided by Executive Producers Shawn Ryan, Andy Dettman and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas brought us compelling, action packed episodes that also addressed important social issues and contributed to the success of our primetime line up. We sincerely thank them for their incredible work and passion and also thank our dedicated fans who tuned in every week.
53 Comments
*crickets*
What about Buddy Holly now?
Wait, is Weezer in this?
A TV show where cops solve crimes? Groundbreaking, how will our culture survive without it.
No, see, this one was different. They swatted crime, they didn’t solve it.
Now I’m imagining a much better show where a cop chases guys around with a fly swatter.
“cops solve crimes”Ironically, they’re cops who specifically are NOT tasked with solving crimes.
Another TV show I don’t watch is cancelled, leaving a bunch of people I have never heard if unemployed.
We hope that…um…Darian Richards? Is that a guy? And the, uh, the, uh, wonderful Alicia Schmaltzerman, who performance was consistently a performance, find other work. She’s an actor, right? Nicola Quincey has already signed on to Anderson Reese’s next project.Anyway, you can’t prove that I’m not making any of these people up and they weren’t involved with SWAT. Or more to the point, you couldn’t be bothered to check. Content generated.
Well aren’t you special.
Six years!? I guess that means there are a lot of episodes to catch up on.Eh, easier not to bother.
You can probably just watch any one episode and guess the rest.
Sorry for the show’s fans. I fear there will be more lamented casualties of the strike than this. That is not to say I don’t think the writers are right to be striking.
Coming up Fall 2023: S.W.A.I
“LISTEN UP, PIGS. I WANT A CHOPPER, FIVE HUNDRED GRAND, AND PLANE ON THE TARMAC WITH ENOUGH FUEL TO TAKE ME OUTTA THE COUNTRY.”“I’m sorry. As a law enforcement model, I cannot provide an actual Harley-Davidson motorcycle, or an entirely custom one which has been built by an individual, that has extended front forks and modified steering angles.”
Weird because this show absolutely could be written by AIActually AI would improve it by assuming Fentanyl was some sort of super criminal who kills you with their mind
“smuggling fentanyl” < “smuggling for The Fentanyl”
Feh. Just stick to smuggling raisins.
Or budgies:
I JUST WATCHED A SHOW WITH FENTANYL! I THINK I AM OVERDOSING!!!
RIP
I’m so sad for this show that I only just learned existed right now.
S.W.A.T. – Should Watch Another Thing
How many cop shows do they have going now?
Six years is pretty good for network TV. Not sure why the article is painting it as some kind of failure when 95 percent of shows are lucky to get two years.
In a world of C.S.I.s and N.C.I.S.s, if you don’t have a 10+ year run and at least two spinoffs you are a catastrophe of a series. We should be on S.W.A.T.: Kennebunkport by now!
“Sir, call came in. A bunch of non-Caucasians, including some Irish Catholics, have hold themselves up in Maryanne’s Old Fashioned Bakery. They’ve already laid waste to the Lobster Tavern, and it’s threatening to spill over into Andrea’s Florist & Candle Shoppe. Mayor’s pissed. Sheriff Pete can’t deal with it. He’s already asked them politely to keep it down, and informed them that this ain’t that kind of town. They’re demanding a sports bar, hot wings, and ATV rental, else they’ve threatened to have some woman with them who, ‘just got her titties did in Tampa’ start flashing passers-by. She already got Mrs. Anderson.”“My god. Tell Pete to pull back to Svenson’s Handcrafted Woodwork, set up a perimeter. We need to get a handle on this before our quaintness drops any further. Get the team. No tasers, no tear gas – we’re going full hollow point on this one.”
Kenny Johnson is a great Twitter follow. Really positive guy who is one of the least negative people you can follow on social media.
S.O.W.A.T.
His “Criminal Minds” “baby girl” schtick sure hasn’t aged well.
CBS loves to burn their casts, crews, and viewers. Maybe NBC will pick it up.
I’ve never seen this show, but I’m sorry for all the people who lost their jobs, who, despite what some other commenters on this page think, are still people.
They can commiserate on the bread line with Matt Jones and the rest of Rob Heart Whateverthatis?
Nonsense. I know from any number of small-print disclaimers on commercials that professional actors are not real people.
Oh I forgot about them. I was talking about the crew.
Give it time. No real people is the ultimate goal of all studio execs: AI writing the scripts and computer generated virtual actors reading the lines.
Wasn’t this a Samuel L Jackson and/or Colin Farrell movie?
S.W.A.T.:
So
Who is
Aware
That this existed?
Any relation to the movie?
This is a show I watched fairly regularly knowing all the time that it was terrible.
My 73 year old dad and my 70 year old mom are not happy about this news. But that’s okay, they’ll probably just watch the reruns ad nauseam on the Ion Network.
Does the new version use the old theme?#1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
That’ll make your afro double in diameter.
If it’s anything like the rebooted Hawaii Five-O it absolutely did not deserve the theme song.
Haha! Well said. This is so true. Every episode of the rebooted Hawaii Five-O dealt with something related to one of its boring cast members (the task force) rather than truly solving crimes. The rebooted SWAT had them do detective work which is not what LAPD SWAT does, and injected so much personal stuff into every episode, the crimes never needed much time to be solved.
It uses a less 70s sounding version of that.
But of course, in a very cheaply made opening sequence too!
Thanks for nothing, Amy.My pitch is that Shemar and LL Cool J team up for a new show that teams up their characters in Los Angeles or elsewhere. NCISWAT, or something.
Nicoise: LA. They solve salad-related crimes.
Explains how he had the time to do an episode of “The Young and The Restless.” And why it seemed like his character was being set up for a return.
It is S.W.A.T. it is.
A show “centered on a police unit operating in Los Angeles” except that time they went to Tokyo to fight a bunch of female wrestlers