(Photo by: Sonja Flemming/CBS)
Hondo and his team won’t be back protecting the public for the 2023-24 TV season. CBS has cancelled SWAT, so there won’t be a seventh season. The sixth season currently airs on Friday nights. *Update below.
A police action drama series, the SWAT TV show stars Shemar Moore, Alex Russell, Jay Harrington, Kenny Johnson, David Lim, and Patrick St. Esprit. The crime thriller centers on Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (Moore), a Los Angeles native and former Marine who’s been tapped to lead a new “last stop” Special Weapons And Tactics unit (S.W.A.T.). The rest of the team includes seasoned David “Deacon” Kay (Harrington), cocky Jim Street (Russell), expert driver Dominique Luca (Johnson), and informant-connected Victor Tan (Lim). Commander Robert Hicks (St. Esprit), a senior LAPD official with the Special Operations Bureau, is responsible for managing all Metro Division S.W.A.T. units.
The sixth season of SWAT averages a 0.42 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.07 million viewers in the live+same day ratings (includes all DVR playback through 3:00 AM). Compared to season five, that’s down by 6% in the demo and up by 18% in viewership. In the live+7 day ratings, the drama gets a nearly 30% boost in viewership.
Despite the rise in viewership. CBS still opted to cancel the series. Sony Television, which produces SWAT, and the network couldn’t agree on a licensing fee. According to Deadline, Sony had not increased the licensing fee for the past few years even though costs had increased and the studio’s profits had dropped.
CBS execs let the exclusivity on the series expire and were eventually willing to increase the licensing fee but dropped the episode order. That would have driven the per-episode cost even higher for Sony, and ultimately an agreement couldn’t be reached.
The word is that finding a new home for SWAT is highly unlikely, given the show’s budget.
“For six seasons, the amazing talents of the SWAT 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,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “We sincerely thank them for their incredible work and passion and also thank our dedicated fans who tuned in every week.”
After tonight’s episode, there are two more episodes to air. The de facto series finale, titled “Legacy,” will be released on May 19th.
What do you think? Have you kept up with the SWAT TV show? Are you disappointed this CBS series wasn’t renewed for a seventh season? Are you surprised that it was cancelled?
Update: The CBS series has been revived and renewed for a seventh and final season.
Please please do not cancel the show it is the best series in a long time, cancel something else like the View you would save money there or Fire country stupid and bad writing so many more?!?!?! Please don’t cancel!!!!
I cannot believe over 5 million viewers a night was not enough people to give this show another season??????????
It is sad to see that it was cancelled. I really enjoyed the series. I was clean, no bad language. Just an overall clean program. Perhaps that’s the problem. So sad
This is so wrong! Shemar Moore has been a fan favorite since his days on the Y&R and Criminal Minds. He has a huge following and then CBS cancels this show with hardly any notice. CBS has done this multiple times with good shows in the past. The numbers are there so not sure why this was cancelled. I am a fan of a lot of CBS shows, but thinking of going to another network to watch some other favorites. Tired of shows jumping around networks. I got rid of canle a long time ago and now have to pay… Read more »
I understand the crappy shows are cheaper to make, but I am so tired of reality shows that aren’t even real. Give me some drama. That was what SWAT was and I love that show. Of course it doesn’t matter what the viewers think. Silly me for even thinking that.
Swat is one of the shows on CBS that I watch. I wait all week to see what is going to happen next, I have ADHD and this show keeps my attention for the whole hour, which is very important to me. I think it’s a big mistake taking off Swat when there is so many other crappy shows on CBS they could cancel. I am very disappointed in CBS.
CBS just needs to go away. All they seem to do is cancel the good shows and and put on crap.!!
The people at CBS are never going to read these blogs. I emailed CBS and wrote a long complaint. I have stopped watching many network shows and SWAT was my favorite. Soon people will stop watching networks. Most of CBS’s audience is 50+ so we do not matter. I know many younger people that do not even watch network shows anymore. DO THE RIGHT THING CBS!!! Bring back SWAT for at least a final season. P.S. I will not pay for Paramount+. Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO MAX, and Disney+ are enough for me.
This blog should be copied and sent to Executives at CBS They really ticked me off cancelling this show.
Amen to that!!!! The 50+ audience is ignored. I too refuse to pay for all the additional streaming and different channels. Network TV was always good enough for us in the past but it seems that they now cater to the taste of the younger generation. And like you said they cancel the better shows and keep those with bad language, extreme violence and no story line. Swat had a good story line each week. I looked forward to it. The characters were all very interesting. That’s what kept you watching week after week. There was always something going on.… Read more »
Another method of measurement needs to be established for these recording and entertainment entities. Both CBS and SONY have gotten what they wanted and (Paid for) from SWAT. They are talking themselves out of lucrative contracts and successful business ventures because their method of measuring success is faulty. The bottom line, as always, is money. By any metric, seemingly unknown to the bozos at both companies, SWAT is a smashing success. Who the F*** do these morons hire to work there?
You clearly didn’t read the article. Money is always first and last consideration. Television isn’t an art form; it’s a business. It’s all bottom line. The economics just didn’t anymore.