Shemar Moore on Why 'S.W.A.T.' Reaching 100 Episodes Is a 'Big Deal' (Exclusive)
The actor and producer talks to ET about reaching another career milestone and reflects on his late mother.
Shemar Moore is celebrating another career milestone: reaching 100 episodes of CBS' S.W.A.T., which airs Sunday.
"It's a big deal because television has changed so much. And now people are watching television differently, especially the youngsters. They're on their phones, on smart phones, on their iPads and all. The days of running home to watch Miami Vice on Friday night and The Cosby Show on Thursday night and Arsenio Hall [are long gone]," Moore told ET's Nischelle Turner during an exclusive sit-down in March. "But just to do episodes, especially our show, is so big. I feel like we're making a movie made for TV every week."
The 51-year-old actor opened up about why he believes the procedural has been able to cross the magical 100-episode threshold. "You're looking at it. You're looking at it, right here," he jokingly referred to himself. "You see these eyebrows, baby? You see this smile? You see this chocolate, brown sugar complexion? Put it on TV, come on! We making big things happen. I'm just playing, y'all!"
"Tough guys, super-cops chasing bad guys resonates around the world. Our show has become popular around the world because it's such a fun show," Moore said on a more serious note. "It's not a bloody show, it's not a dark show. It's a fun show. It's like going to the movies and watching Fast and Furious, or Bourne, or born James Bond-type stuff. We get to be super-cops running around doing cool things, car chases, helicopter chases, cool fight scenes, chasing down these bad guys. But then we also have a lot of diversity on our show. Me being a lead, being a Black man, and we have Asian, we've got Latin [actors] on the show. We're such a family within the show and you can feel that on the screen."
He also noted that S.W.A.T. isn't afraid to address real-world issues that are going on today.
"We also get topical. We keep the show grounded, which is important to me as a lead and a producer on the show," Moore explained. "I give my input and say, 'We got to talk about things.' When George Floyd happened, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor... I can't be a Black man playing a Black cop, wearing the uniform with what was going, and still is going on in the world. Let's talk about it. We ain't got to preach about it, we ain't got to pick sides, but let's tell some truth. I was proud of the show that we were able to do that. We've also done episodes about school shootings, suicide by cops, human trafficking. I like that we can be a fun, thrill-ride of a show, but also just have some heart and humanity."
Moore opened up about how he's doing two years after losing his mother, Marilyn Wilson-Moore, in February 2020.
"If I'm being completely honest, you don't ever heal," he said. "I miss her every day. And if I keep talking about it, you'll see a tear come down my cheek. She was my best friend, my partner-in-crime. It's still hard for me to this day. I have great friends and I distract myself, and throw myself into work. I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I'm blessed to have done and experienced what I've experienced. And my mother was my backbone, she was my cheerleader. She was the one who made me believe it was possible... I saw how hard she worked in her life, the risks that she took. And so, I got a lot of that in me. She instilled that in me, but her loss cracked me. It put me on a knee and I'm still trying to get off that knee."
"But you got to keep pushing. And for anybody who's experienced something like that, that kind of loss, it sucks and it don't go away," he continued. "You're looking at a dude right now who hurts every day because of that loss. But you got to remind yourself of your blessings. You got to remind yourself that you still got it in you. And so you just fight, you push. And I'm determined to get off that knee and start running because that's what my momma would want."
The 100th episode of S.W.A.T. airs Sunday, April 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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