SEAL Team (TV series)

SEAL Team is an American military action drama television series created by Benjamin Cavell.[1] The series is produced by CBS Television Studios, and began airing on CBS on September 27, 2017.[2]

SEAL Team
Genre	Action fiction Military drama
Created by	Benjamin Cavell
Starring	David Boreanaz Max Thieriot Jessica Paré Neil Brown Jr. A. J. Buckley Toni Trucks Judd Lormand
Composers	W. G. Snuffy Walden A. Patrick Rose
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	70 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Benjamin Cavell Ed Redlich Sarah Timberman Carl Beverly Christopher Chulack John Glenn David Boreanaz (2019–) Mark Owen Spencer Hudnut
Producers	Todd Lewis Kate DiMento Chris Leanza David Boreanaz (2017–2019)
Cinematography	Gonzalo Amat J. Michael Muro
Editors	Adam Wolfe Mark Semos
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	43 minutes
Production companies	Chulack Productions East 25 C (season 1) Timberman/Beverly Productions John Glenn Entertainment (seasons 2–3) CBS Studios[lower-alpha 1]
Distributor	CBS Media Ventures
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
Original release	September 27, 2017 – present
External links
Website

The series follows an elite unit of United States Navy SEALs portrayed by David Boreanaz, Max Thieriot, Jessica Paré, Neil Brown Jr., A. J. Buckley, and Toni Trucks. On May 9, 2019, CBS renewed the series for a third season,[3] which premiered on October 2, 2019.[4] In May 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on December 2, 2020.[5][6]

Overview

The series follows Bravo Team, a sub-unit of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group,[7][8][9] the most elite unit of Navy SEALs, as they plan and undertake dangerous missions worldwide with little notice, and the burden on them and their families.

Cast and characters

• David Boreanaz as Master Chief Special Warfare Operator^A Jason Hayes a.k.a. Bravo 1/1B, leader of a Navy SEAL team (Bravo Team) dealing with the recent loss of one of their own.[10]
• Max Thieriot as Special Warfare Operator Second Class Clay Spenser a.k.a. Bravo 6/6B, a second-generation Navy SEAL in training for Tier One status who is questioned as to his readiness for combat.[10] He becomes a member of Bravo Team at the end of "The Exchange", and briefly served as the team's second-in-command twice.
• Jessica Paré as Amanda "Mandy" Ellis,[10] Bravo Team's CIA liaison. Due to her actions of giving up the location of a CIA asset in "My Life for Yours", Mandy is demoted from her rank of officer and is now serving as an interrogator for the CIA.[11] (seasons 1–4)
• Neil Brown Jr. as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Raymond "Ray" Perry, formerly Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator, a.k.a. Bravo 2/2B, Jason's most trusted friend and the longest tenured member of the team.[10] Ray is promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 2 in episode 3 of season 4.
• A. J. Buckley as Special Warfare Operator First Class Sonny Quinn a.k.a. Bravo 3/3B, a loyal but sometimes volatile SEAL who is at his best in firefights and prefers them over a leadership position.[10]
• Toni Trucks as Ensign Lisa Davis, formerly Logistics Specialist First Class.[10] and, since season 3, a DEVGRU Intelligence Officer assigned primarily to Bravo Team.
• Judd Lormand as Lieutenant Commander Eric Blackburn, Bravo Team's commanding officer (recurring season 1; main season 2–present[12]).

Note;

^AEnlisted SEALs have Special Warfare Operator specific ratings. See US Navy SEAL ratings.

Episodes

Season		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	22		September 27, 2017	May 16, 2018
	2	22		October 3, 2018	May 22, 2019
	3	20		October 2, 2019	May 6, 2020
	4	16[13]		December 2, 2020	TBA

Production

Development

Following the success of History Channel's Six, on January 27, 2017, it was announced that CBS had given the pilot order for another Navy SEAL project.[14] The episode was written and authored by Benjamin Cavell who was expected to be an executive producer, alongside Ed Redlich, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Christopher Chulack. Production companies involved with the pilot include Chulack Productions, East 25 C, Timberman/Beverly Productions and CBS Television Studios. On May 12, 2017, CBS officially ordered the pilot to series.[15] A few days later, it was announced that the series, now titled SEAL Team, would premiere by September 27, 2017 and air on Wednesdays at 9:00 P.M.

The series received a full-season order on October 12, 2017, bringing the first season to a total of 22 episodes.[16] On March 27, 2018, CBS renewed the series for a second season[17] which premiered on October 3, 2018.[18] On May 22, 2018, it was reported that both Cavell and Redlich were exiting their roles as executive producer and showrunner, and John Glenn replacing him as showrunner.[19] On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed the series for a fourth season,[5] which premiered on December 2, 2020.[6]

Casting

On March 14, 2017 it was announced that Jim Caviezel would topline CBS' then-untitled Navy SEAL drama pilot[20] but on March 22, 2017, it was announced that David Boreanaz had been cast in the pilot's lead role of Jason, replacing Caviezel.[10] On March 8, 2017, it was reported that A.J. Buckley would play Sonny.[21] On August 15, 2018 it was reported that Judd Lormand had been upgraded to series regular for season 2.[12] On August 8, 2018, it was announced that Michael McGrady and Ruffin Prentiss would recur as Captain Harrington and Summer Kairos in the series' second season.[22] On July 10, 2019, it was reported that Jamie McShane and Rudy Dobrev were cast in recurring roles for the third season.[23] On August 7, 2019, Emily Swallow was cast in a recurring capacity for the third season.[24] January 27, 2021, Shiva Negar joined the cast in a recurring role for the fourth season.[25]

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 70% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "SEAL Team's solidly written first season offers compelling characters and hints at broader potential, even if it's somewhat undermined by an overall sense of predictability."[26] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[27]

Ratings

Viewership and ratings per season of SEAL Team

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	First aired		Last aired		TV season	Viewership rank	Avg. viewers (millions)	18–49 rank
			Date	Viewers (millions)	Date	Viewers (millions)
1	Wednesday 9:00 pm (1–13, 15–22) Wednesday 10:00 pm (14)	22	September 27, 2017	9.88[28]	May 16, 2018	6.14[29]	2017–18	28	9.87[30]	TBD
2	Wednesday 9:00 pm (1–13) Wednesday 10:00 pm (14–22)	22	October 3, 2018	5.02[31]	May 22, 2019	4.24[32]	2018–19	39	8.29[33]	TBD
3	Wednesday 9:00 pm (1–19) Wednesday 10:00 pm (20)	20	October 2, 2019	5.25[34]	May 6, 2020	4.54[35]	2019–20	34	8.02[36]	TBD
4	Wednesday 9:00 pm	16	December 2, 2020	4.24[37]	TBA	TBD	2020–21	TBD	TBD	TBD

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
2018	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)	W.G. Snuffy Walden, A. Patrick Rose	Nominated	[38]
2019	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series, or Movie	Peewee Piemonte, Julie Michaels	Nominated	[39]

Home media

Season	No. of episodes	DVD Release dates[40]
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
1	22	August 14, 2018[41]	October 15, 2018	November 21, 2018
2	22	September 10, 2019[42]	November 18, 2019[43]
3	20	August 25, 2020[44]

See also

• Six - similar fictional hourly drama based on the Tier One SEAL team
• The Unit - Similar type of series but focused on the United States Army's Delta Force
• The Brave - Similar type of series but focused on a fictional Defense Intelligence Agency unit
• Strike Back - Is a British/American action-adventure/spy-drama television series follows actions of Section 20, a secretive branch of the British Defence Intelligence service
• Ultimate Force - Similar type of series but focused on the British Army's Special Air Service

References

1. Ausiello, Michael (May 12, 2017). "CBS Orders Boreanaz' SEAL Team, Moore's S.W.A.T., Cumming's Instinct, Piven's Wisdom, Plus 2 Comedies". TVLine.
2. Andreeva, Nellie (June 1, 2017). "CBS Sets Fall 2017 Premiere Dates For 'Young Sheldon', '9 JKL' & Returning Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
3. Levin, Gary (May 9, 2019). "CBS renews 'Madam Secretary,' 'MacGyver,' 'Bull,' 'SEAL Team,' 'SWAT' and 'Hawaii Five-0'". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
4. Petski, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie (June 13, 2019). "CBS Sets Fall Premiere Dates: 'Bob ♥ Abishola', 'All Rise', 'Evil', 'Young Sheldon', 'NCIS', 'Blue Bloods' & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
5. White, Peter; Andreeva, Nellie (May 6, 2020). "CBS Renews 18 Series, Including Freshmen 'FBI: Most Wanted', 'Bob ♥ Abishola', 'All Rise' & 'The Unicorn'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
6. White, Peter (November 6, 2020). "CBS Pushes 'SEAL Team' Season Premiere After 'The Amazing Race' Was Moved Due To Election Coverage'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
7. "Borderlines". SEAL Team. Season 1. Episode 7. November 15, 2017. Event occurs at c. the 32 minute mark; the speaker is Mandy Ellis. CBS. We have one Dev Group operator in country and en route.
8. "The Exchange". SEAL Team. Season 1. Episode 8. November 22, 2017. Event occurs at 3 minute mark (of 59 minutes); the speaker is Trent. CBS. Whatever teams we go to, we're Tier One operators now
9. "Getaway Day". SEAL Team. Season 1. Episode 8. January 31, 2018. CBS.. The television news broadcast in the background of the wake specifically names the unit as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team 6.
10. Andreeva, Nellie (March 22, 2017). "David Boreanaz to Topline CBS' Navy SEAL Drama Pilot". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
11. Mitovich, Matt Webb (2019-05-23). "SEAL Team Season 2 Finale Recap: Who Got Booted from Future Missions?". TVLine. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
12. "'SEAL Team': Judd Lormand Upped To Series Regular For Season 2". Deadline Hollywood. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
13. Andreeva, Nellie (October 27, 2020). "CBS Trims Episode Orders As Broadcast Series On All Nets Face Abbreviated Runs In COVID Impacted 2020-21 Season". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
14. Goldberg, Lesley (January 27, 2017). "Navy SEALs Drama Lands CBS Pilot Order". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
15. Holloway, Daniel (May 12, 2017). "CBS Series Orders: '9JKL,' 'Me, Myself & I,' 'Instinct,' 'Wisdom of the Crowd,' 'Seal Team,' 'S.W.A.T.'". Variety. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
16. Andreeva, Nellie (October 12, 2017). "'SEAL Team' Gets Full-Season Order From CBS". Deadline Hollywood.
17. Ausiello, Michael (March 27, 2018). "SEAL Team, S.W.A.T. Renewed at CBS". TVLine. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
18. Andreeva, Nellie (July 9, 2018). "CBS Fall 2018 Premiere Dates: 'Big Bang' & 'Young Sheldon' To Help Launch 'Magnum PI' & 'Murphy Brown' Revival". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
19. Andreeva, Nellie (May 22, 2018). "'SEAL Team': John Glenn Joins CBS Series As New Showrunner, Two EPs Depart". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
20. "Jim Caviezel To Topline Navy SEAL Drama Pilot In Return To CBS". Deadline Hollywood. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
21. "A.J. Buckley Joins CBS' Navy SEAL Drama Pilot; Kevin Daniels In Jenny Lumet Project". Deadline Hollywood. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
22. "'SEAL Team': Michael McGrady & Ruffin Prentiss To Recur On CBS Drama". Deadline Hollywood. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
23. Petski, Denise (July 22, 2019). "'SEAL Team': Jamie McShane & Rudy Dobrev To Recur On Season 3". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
24. Petski, Denise (August 7, 2019). "'Why Women Kill' Casts Li Jun Li; Emily Swallow Joins 'SEAL Team'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
25. Petski, Denise (January 27, 2021). "'SEAL Team': Shiva Negar Joins CBS' Military Drama Series As Recurring". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
26. "SEAL Team: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
27. "SEAL Team - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
28. Porter, Rick (September 28, 2017). "'Survivor' premiere adjusts up: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
29. Porter, Rick (May 17, 2018). "'Survivor' and 'The Blacklist' finale adjust up: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
30. "The top 50 most-watched shows of the 2017-18 season". Entertainment Weekly. May 29, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
31. Welch, Alex (October 4, 2018). "'Single Parents,' 'Empire,' everything else unchanged: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
32. Welch, Alex (May 23, 2019). "'Live in Front of a Studio Audience,' 'Chicago P.D.' adjust up, 'Jane the Virgin' adjusts down: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
33. de Moraes, Lisa (May 21, 2019). "2018–19 TV Season Ratings: CBS Wraps 11th Season At No. 1 In Total Viewers, NBC Tops Demo; 'Big Bang Theory' Most Watched Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
34. Welch, Alex (October 3, 2019). "'Chicago Med,' 'The Masked Singer' adjust up, 'Single Parents,' 'Almost Family' adjust down: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
35. Metcalf, Mitch (May 7, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.6.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
36. Schneider, Michael (May 21, 2020). "100 Most Watched TV Shows of 2019-20: Winners and Losers". Variety. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
37. Metcalf, Mitch (December 4, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 12.2.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
38. "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
39. "Awards & Nominations". Retrieved April 29, 2020.
40. "SEAL Team DVD Release Date".
41. SEAL Team: Season One | DVD | Box Set | David Boreanaz (Actor), Max Thieriot (Actor) Amazon.com
42. "SEAL Team: Season 2 (DVD)". Amazon. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
43. "SEAL Team Season 2 [DVD] [2019]". Retrieved August 29, 2020.
44. "SEAL Team: Season 3 (DVD)". Amazon. Retrieved June 12, 2020.

1. Known as CBS Television Studios until 2020

External links

• Official website
• SEAL Team at IMDb
• SEAL Team at Rotten Tomatoes