The short-lived television series "S.W.A.T." was another successful action-packed police dramas that came from powerhouse television producer Aaron Spelling,and under the creation of Rick Husky, Lee Stanley,and Robert Hammer. Aaron Spelling served as executive producer of the series along with Leonard Goldberg under their production company Spelling-Goldberg Productions for ABC-TV. "S.W.A.T." actually was the spin-off of another successful Aaron Spelling produced series "The Rookies" where Steve Forrest was a guest star on that episode. "S.W.A.T." premiered as a mid-season replacement on ABC's prime time schedule on February 17,1975 and lasted a mere two seasons on the air until April 3,1976. A total of 37 color episodes were produced in which Season 1 consisted of 12 episodes produced airing between February 17, 1975 through May 26,1975. Season 2 consisted of 25 episodes produced airing between September 13,1975 through April 3, 1976. "S.W.A.T." basically premiered as a mid-season replacement for ABC's Monday Night Football where it faced competition between two prime-time CBS comedies "Maude",and "Rhoda"(which was the spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show),and NBC's Monday Night at the Movies. The second and final season saw the series moved from Monday nights to Saturday nights where it again faced competition from two CBS comedies "The Mary Tyler Moore Show",and "The Bob Newhart Show" which clobbered it in the ratings along with NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies.
The premise of "S.W.A.T."(Special Weapons and Tactics Unit) consisted of a group of highly skilled men that were called on to tackle cases not to mention handle dangerous situations to intense for the police to handle. These quasi-military armed men worked for the Los Angeles Police Department and were all Vietnam Veterans(that fought in Vietnam) that were called on to handle situations in a precision style manner that had to be done with split second timing in order to save lives and take down the baddies or thugs as quickly as possible and bring them to justice. The series starred veteran actor Steve Forrest(of "The Baron" television series)as Lt. Hondo Harrelson the head man of operations. His second in command was Sgt. Deacon Kay(Rod Perry),and his back up in dangerous situations were Officer T.J. McCabe(James Coleman); Officer Luca(Mark Shera); and Officer Jim Street(Robert Urich).
"S.W.A.T." brought in big time directors,big time writers for some of the great episodes,and not to mention big time guest stars in various episodes ranging Sal Mineo, Christopher George, Cameron Mitchell, to Aldo Ray, Robert Loggia, Stuart Whitman, Leslie Nielsen, Mark Slade, William Windom, Farrah Fawcett, Don Stroud, Clint Young, Robert Webber, Carl Weathers, James Darren, Susan Dey, Rose Marie, Phil Silvers, to Michael Conrad, Lesley-Anne Warren, Tom Skerritt, Belinda Tolbert, to Simon Oakland, Loni Anderson, just to name a few of the guest stars that appeared in several episodes.
The best episodes from it's First Season starts off with the groundbreaking pilot episode "The Killing Ground". The other episodes that were not only dramatic but action-packed excitement consisted of "A Coven of Killers"(Season 1,Episode 2); "Pressure Cooker"(Season 1, Episode 4); "Jungle War"(Season 1, Episode 6); "Blind Man's Bluff" (Season 1, Episode 11); "Bravo Enigma"(Season 1, Episode 8); "Death Score"(Season 1, Episode 13);and "The Sole Survivors"(Season 1, Episode 12).
The best episodes from it's Second and Final Season consisted of the two-part season opener "The Deadly Tide",Parts 1 & 2(Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2). Others included "The Vendetta"(Season 2,Episode 6); "The Running Man",Parts 1 & 2(Season 2,Episodes 16 and 17); "The Soldier On The Hill"(Season 2,Episode 23); "Kill S.W.A.T"(Season 2,Episode 3),and the final episode of the series "Officer Luca,You're Dead!"(Season 2,Episode 25).
The series was known for it's opening theme song which became a top-ten hit for the R&B/Pop group Rhythm Heritage in 1976 that were certified Gold and was Grammy nominated that same year. As far as the television series itself was concerned, it premiered in a decade that was littered with detective dramas,and police shows and it was highly criticized for it's violent content that was a rarely with cop shows of the 1970's. When "S.W.A.T." was abruptly canceled in the Spring of 1976, the powers that be over at ABC didn't waste any time for it's replacement where another successful Aaron Spelling produced cop drama "Starsky and Hutch" took over on it's Saturday night prime time slot.
**This commentary was written on January 29,2016 in commemoration with the show's 40th anniversary that was timelined to be written on February 17, 2015.
