Following CBS TV Network’s announcement regarding the show S.W.A.T., Shemar Moore posted a video on Instagram in which he expressed his thoughts about the same and how upset he was.
On Friday, CBS announced that the show, in which Moore has played LAPD Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson since it started in November 2017, won’t be returning after the season six finale on May 19. The show, which is a remake of a 1970s show of the same name, had a bigger total audience than the season before, with an average of 6.82 million viewers over seven days.
It makes no sense,
Shemar Moore said of the cancellation in an Instagram video posted Saturday.
We’ve done nothing wrong. We did everything that was asked for.
Shemar Moore said that the show’s ratings over the past two years have been good, and he pointed out how well it does on Friday nights. The former Criminal Minds star also said that he is the only African-American male lead on broadcast television, not counting streaming or cable. He also said that Chris O’Donnell, not LL Cool J, was No. 1 on the call sheet for NCIS: Los Angeles, which is also approaching its end this month on CBS.
S.W.A.T. is the most diverse show on CBS,
Shemar Moore said.
CBS, when I got hired to be Hondo on S.W.A.T., was getting a lot of flak for lack of diversity. If I post this, and I think I might, I will get in a lot of trouble with CBS because I’m calling them out. Because they’ve been wonderful to me for 26 out of my 29-year career. But to abruptly get told that you’re canceled when you led us to believe last week — and the week before, and the week before that — that we would have some semblance of a season seven to at least say goodbye, if not continue. And to abruptly be told, ‘You’re done.’
Shemar Moore claimed that there was “a lot of politics involved” and brought up licensing fees aspect for the project, which was co-produced by Sony Pictures TV and CBS Studios together. Shemar Moore says that he didn’t express his thoughts for his own gain but because he was concerned about his family and everyone else who has worked on the show. He made it clear that he hopes the people in charge will see that they made a mistake and let the show continue.
I will be fine, but I’m upset because I busted my whole entire ass to prove that I could do this, and I did prove that I could do this,
Shemar Moore said.
I understand it’s not personal — it’s business — but I still have faith that S.W.A.T. will live to see another day. So I’m asking my homies, my fans and my baby girls, and the rest of the world who follow me or follow the show, follow the cast, my brothers and my sisters: Make some fucking noise. And let them know that canceling S.W.A.T. is a f***ing mistake.
The Hollywood Reporter has approached CBS for comment. The Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer, CSI: Vegas with Paula Newsome, and The Equalizer with Queen Latifah are all shows that have been renewed in the past and have main cast members.
During an interview with THR’s TV’s Top 5 podcast in March, executive producer Shawn Ryan said it was “up in the air” whether the show would get a seventh season at a time when platforms value full ownership of their series.
There’s no reason why the show shouldn’t be picked up, other than the economics of the business are changing,
Ryan said at the time.
CBS and Sony will or will not figure out a way to economically make a season seven work.
