The Dec. 13 episode of SWAT ended with quite a cliffhanger, but fans are going to have to wait until the new year to find out exactly who on 20 Squad might have a bounty on their head!
If the end of episode 8, “Left of Boom,” left you on the edge of your seat then the SWAT writers did their job well as the episode was designed to be the show’s fall finale. While many shows have opted to end their fall runs with holiday episodes or episodes that didn’t end with any major cliffhangers, the SWAT team delivered one of the best fall finales of the season.
The episode ended with it becoming clear that someone is targeting a member of 20 Squad, but we don’t know exactly who is being targeted or what has put them in the crosshairs. And it’s a moment we’re going to have plenty of time to theorize about as SWAT won’t be airing any more new episodes in 2024 and we’ve got a short break ahead of us before season 8 resumes, thus giving us answers to the finale’s burning questions.
Following the fall finale, SWAT will be off the air for a few weeks before finally returning on Friday, Jan. 31. While this is indeed a bit of a lengthy break, it’s honestly not as bad as those some fans are having to ensure with shows like Survivor not coming back until February and others like Grey’s Anatomy, 911, and Doctor Odyssey on break until March.
And CBS’s scheduling decision did allow us to enjoy new episodes through most of December as the show went through the halfway point of the month with new episodes instead of beginning their breaks in November.
SWAT is moving to a later timeslot when it returns in 2025
One thing that will be changing when SWAT returns in 2025 is that the show will no longer be opening CBS’s Friday night line-up and will instead be closing out the night. That’s right, SWAT is on the move in the new year!
Now that Blue Bloods has ended its 14-season run on Dec. 13 with its series finale, CBS’s Friday night lineup is going to look a little different in January. Now that Blue Bloods is over, SWAT will be moving to the 10 p.m. slot and will now close out the night with CBS hoping that the series can continue the momentum Blue Bloods has enjoyed during its run on Friday nights.
With SWAT moving to the closing hour, NCIS: Sydney will be taking over the opening timeslot at 8 p.m. ET and joining the Friday night block in its second season. It’s honestly going to be interesting to see how the show’s ratings perform in the move to Friday night and during the regular season. As fans will recall its first season aired during the strike when most networks shifted their schedules to reality programs which likely helped the show’s ratings. There are also many fans still upset with CBS about the decision to cancel NCIS: Hawaii which might take it out on NCIS: Sydney which could result in its ratings falling.
As for whether that could then impact the ratings of Fire Country which will remain in the 9 p.m. slot, well, it seems likely given Fire Country will no longer have SWAT as its lead-in.
