James GordonS.W.A.T. is coming back tonight for season four. Hondo and his team will be back at 21:00 ET/PT, only on CBS and streaming on CBS All Access. In this brand new series of episodes, the team will look at many of the problems we’ve all faced so far in 2020 through the lens of the LAPD’s best crime fighters.
Matt Weiss from CBS spoke to Special Forces star Shemar Moore about the extra steps needed to shoot the series in 2020 and what fans can expect from the new season.
MBT: Shemar, good to see you! The fourth season of S.W.A.T. starts tonight at 11:11, which should be a good sign. First of all, what is it like to film a show in 2020?
CM : It’s a little weird. We’re doing it, and I’m very proud of it. I learned that we were the first show that came back on the television network, the first hour of the drama that came back. It’s different, you have all these rules, we test COVID all the time. It should be three days a week, but because S.W.A.T. is literally doing a good job, the cops chase the bad guys and fight them to the point where we are checked almost every day. I got a little Q-Q out of my nose, then I had to spit in a cup. Before we go to work, we take our temperature; it’s different.
Photo courtesy of CBS
But we accept it because that’s exactly what it is, and we’d rather be safe. We prefer to guarantee the safety of everyone. We’ll follow these protocols until we’re hopefully optimistic about the vaccine. I hope the public won’t notice when they point out the sacrifices we’ve had to make in our history. The actions of the show don’t change, you have a chase, you have that Na Na Na you have that action.
What I’m really proud of is that we were awake. We entertain people, but we also talk about real things. I’m black. Hondo is black. I’m wearing the Los Angeles Police Department uniform on television. If you look at the news, there is this gap, this tension, this fear between citizens and the police. You’ve heard about defusing the police, and we’ve talked about it. I thought we shouldn’t ignore what was going on.
You’ll see, in our first episode we talk about George Floyd, Ahmod Arbury, Brenne Taylor. We’re talking about racial injustice. We don’t pick sides, we just say, hey, that’s the thing. That’s what’s going on, it’s a conversation, it’s a debate. All this time you’ve done crazy things, very crazy things.
We talk about real problems so people don’t sleep, but we still have a good time on the SWAT team. I am proud to be part of a television program that tries to promote a sense of compassion, harmony and community while the police go after the bad guys and have fun.
MBT: In tonight’s two-hour premiere we have you with Daniel Sr. and Daryl, who is a teenager, and we look through the lens of three men belonging to three different generations. Can you talk about it and tell us what we’ll see from that point of view?
CM : In this first episode we take over the Watts riots. We’ve been talking about Rodney King since 1992. Then we also show that we are here in 2020, and that George Floyd, Brenna Taylor, Ahmod Arbury, and others. We have Daryl, played by Desha Frost, we have my character Hondo, and then we have Hondo’s father, played by Obba Babatunde, played by Daniel Sr. They have these three different generations, and what’s interesting in real life when I talk to young people, let’s say 30 and under, a lot of them don’t even know who Rodney King is, they don’t know.
The young Daryl from S.W.A.T. even talks about it, it’s so well written by Sean Ryan and the editors here. Does he look like Rodney King? I thought it was just the black life against the police. You have no idea what happened 28 years ago. Then Father Hondo is very pessimistic, as if nothing has changed in 30 years, look, blacks are treated in a certain way and nothing has changed. Dan Hondo, he’s just more optimistic. That’s why he joined the Marines, that’s why he became an officer in the LAPD, because he wants things to change.
I think a lot of people watching the show will enjoy themselves. In an hour you will be entertained and raised. They get different points of view from different generations. I think you’ll learn a lot, whether you know it or not. It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what color you are, we tell human stories. We tell real stories. I offer you real prospects and I’m very proud of that.
That’s what it looks like: Look at S.W.A.T. Preview season 4.
MBT: One last question before I let you go. Today, people are just looking for something new, something to entertain them. What does it mean to be able to give people new content, new episodes, at a time when we haven’t had any for a long time?
CM : We haven’t had anything for so long, I’ve been watching the Cornhole Championship. I’ve seen so much of it I bought it myself, and I’ve got a corn hole in my garden. You do what you want. People want new content for entertainment. It’s affected us all. It all started when we all closed in March. S.W.A.T. finished on the 16th. In March, and two days later, we were stranded here in Los Angeles. None of us knew what it meant.
Just to come back, put on a show and spend time with the team. Of course we have to wear masks and face shields and all that, but it’s better than staying at home all the time. We can do our show and everything I’m trying to talk about. We try to stay cheerful and relevant by giving you thrills. giving you something to think about or to move you. People, my fans in social networks, I go there all the time, they’re so excited.
I’m just proud to be able to do what I love. I’m grateful to SONY and CBS for giving us the platform to argue our case. We’re in a special show that can only tell the stories we tell because of the way we’re set up. We are literally the S.W.A.T. of the L.A.P.D. We are these super agents, but we also represent men and women in real life that there are many disputes that we try to give you an optimistic approach to humanity, these men and women who fight for our lives every day. We’re just trying to show you the good, we’re trying to help people believe in the good. By the way, have fun. That opens now.
MBT: That’s amazing. Thank you for your time and good luck to Shemar!
CM : Peace be with you, buddy.
Turn on ET/PT tonight at 21:00 for a brand new S.W.A.T., only CBS and streaming on CBS All Access. For more information, see Local displays.
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James Gordon
