CBS’s announcement to fill Blue Bloods’ time slot with S.W.A.T. after the family drama’s cancelation was great news at first but seems worrying now. The second half of S.W.A.T. season 8 will take over Blue Bloods’ old time slot of Fridays at 10 p.m. ET. in January following the unceremonious cancelation of the popular show. S.W.A.T.’s replacement of Blue Bloods is bittersweet, but the former’s instability makes its future uncertain.
With the status of S.W.A.T. season 9 still undecided by CBS, there are some fears that the Shemar Moore-led show may follow Blue Bloods’ fate of being canceled despite its solid fan-base. With just eight seasons and already a history of cancelations, S.W.A.T. has had risks of premature finales before. The storylines of the S.W.A.T. characters seem hopeful that the show will continue past its current season 8, but its latest ratings might be moving toward a darker direction for the show’s future.
S.W.A.T. Season 8’s Ratings Are Considerably Lower Than Blue Bloods Season 14
Despite both shows being widely popular and highly viewed series, Blue Bloods’ season 14 ratings were noticeably higher than S.W.A.T.’s. According to a ranking created by TV Line, Blue Bloods season 14 raked in an average of 7.9 million viewers, whereas S.W.A.T. season 8 only generated an average of 5.6 million viewers. The discrepancy in viewers is made to seem even larger when the ranking of the shows is taken into consideration, as Blue Bloods came in sixth place overall and S.W.A.T. was all the way down in sixteenth place.
While the ratings accounted for the early part of the 2024-2025 TV season when Blue Bloods still aired at 10 p.m. and S.W.A.T. aired at 8 p.m., it is too large of a discrepancy to ignore even with the different time slots. Now that S.W.A.T. will be taking over Blue Bloods’ old time slot, it does give some hope that S.W.A.T. might rise up in the rankings. However, given Blue Bloods’ high popularity, it also puts a lot of pressure on S.W.A.T. to prove itself as worthy of the new time.
Could S.W.A.T. Be Canceled Again?
Despite having lower ratings than Blue Bloods, S.W.A.T. has had relatively consistent ratings within the last year. Its new move into the 10 p.m. time slot on Friday nights could also give it an increase in viewers, which could lead to a rise in the rankings. However, CBS’ cancelation of Blue Bloods, even with fantastic ratings, shows that viewership alone is not enough to keep a show on the air. Its history of canceling popular and well-liked shows is a bad sign which is made worse by S.W.A.T.’s lower ranking.
There are other factors involved in deciding whether to keep a show running or not, including expenses. Longer-running shows are typically more expensive, which is why it is more common to cancel shows after just a few seasons than to keep them airing for years on end. Blue Bloods’ impressive 14-season run is an exception to what is most common on network TV shows. However, since S.W.A.T. only has eight seasons so far, its lower season count gives some hope that it will be renewed again, since it has lower expenses than Blue Bloods.
