A change is coming to the CBS lineup after Blue Bloods series finale airs. The network has revealed which show will be taking over the Friday, 10 p.m. time slot.
It was announced that S.W.A.T. will be moving into the Friday, 10 p.m. slot in the CBS lineup beginning in the last week of January. This news comes after it was announced that the Blue Bloods series finale will air on Friday, December 13, at 10 p.m.
Blue Bloods star Tom Selleck, who plays Frank Reagan, previously spoke out about how winning over viewers with the late-night time slot was a constant battle over the show’s seasons.
“I’m kind of frustrated. During those last eight shows, I haven’t wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful,” he told TV Insider in an interview published on October 3. “In a Top 100 Shows of 2023-2024 (in total viewers, we were No. 9 out of 100), if you discount the three football shows, we’re No. 6!”
“I’m not going to turn into a bitter old guy saying, ‘Get off my lawn!’ I don’t believe in holding grudges, but if you were to say to the television network, ‘Here’s a show you can program in the worst time slot you got, and it is going to guarantee you winning Friday night for the next 15 years,’ it would be almost impossible to believe,” he said.
Plus, he voiced his frustration about CBS pulling the plug on the show after season 14 and favorable ratings.
“My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go. So how do I feel? It’s going to take a long time to sort all of this out,” the Emmy winner explained. “I remember after the weekend [of the final episode’s shoot], I said, “I’ve got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.’” Well, there was no Monday. It’s just going to take a while.”
Cast member Len Cariou, who plays Frank’s dad, Henry Reagan, also spoke about how the cast was able to dominate the Friday time slot on CBS over time.
“I think when they launched us there Friday nights, think about 14, 15 years ago — we weren’t really thrilled with Friday night at 10. Friday has not been—was at least at that point not really a very popular time, the first show on the weekends, and we thought, well, it’s not a very good time slot,” Len, 85, told TV Insider on November 1.
He said that because Tom had become a favorite on the network years ago with Magnum, P.I., the show was able to draw in a large crowd.
“But because of Tom, and I think he has such a great following on CBS, that once they saw the show, they said, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. It’s really good. So they’ll make it work on Fridays.,’” Len said. “And they thought about moving us to another night way back then, and we said, I think Mr. Goldberg said, ‘No, we’ll own Friday nights.’ And sure enough, we did.”
