I never watched S.W.A.T. and apparently no one at CBS thought viewers did either. So last week, they cancelled the show after six seasons. That prompted star Shemar Moore to issue a profane rant against the network on social media, insisting that they'd made a huge mistake. And indeed, S.W.A.T. was one of the few shows that actually seemed to be gaining audience towards the end of its run. 

And now, in a major reversal of fortune, the Eye Network blinked and has officially renewed the series for one final season on the network. It's a very unusual move that happens so rarely, I'm hard pressed to think of another example that didn't involve a show being saved by a different network. (There are plenty of those, the latest being Magnum P.I. which was picked up by NBC after CBS gave it the boot.)

Will & Grace left NBC, only to return to the Peacock Network a few years later to pick up the storyline.

CBS tried and failed to revive its once popular Murphy Brown with most of the original cast. 

Family Guy was returned by Fox, but not until a few years had gone by.  

But having a series renewed just a few days after it was blown out by the same network? That's very rare. The only other one I can think of is "Jericho," about a Kansas town that survived a nuclear war. When fans bombarded CBS with packages of nuts (after a famous line from the last episode) they reconsidered and brought it back for one final season.

The other one that comes to mind was, believe it or not, the original Star Trek on NBC, which was slated to be lost in space after two seasons in 1968. A massive letter writing campaign led studio head Julian Goodman to reconsider and give it one more try. The ratings weren't great in the third season and it finally crashed the following year. But those reruns have been seen ever since.

Which means S.W.A.T.. joins a small and elite group of programs that came back from the dead just after they had their near-death experience. But CBS has made it clear this is just a stay of execution. It will definitely not return after its now final season next year. 

Still, it's a very rare feat, proving that S.W.A.T. was a show they couldn't swat away. And it becomes a rare piece of TV history.

‘S.W.A.T.’ Star Shemar Moore, Creator Shawn Ryan React To Renewal News; “We Did It!”