NCIS Season 20, NCIS: LA Season 14 and NCIS: Hawai’i Season 2 Get Green Light From CBS! Plus NCIS: Sydney Season 1?!
1) CBS
EW reports.
CBS renews NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: Hawai’i
Your favorite special agents will be back for more cases.
CBS has renewed all three NCIS franchises — the long-running flagship series NCIS and its spin-offs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawai’i — for another season. NCIS will return for a milestone 20th season, making it one of the longest-running primetime dramas on TV. Los Angeles will return for season 14, while freshman drama Hawai’i will return season 2.
“NCIS, one of the most popular and enduring series in the world, and fan favorite NCIS: Los Angeles have been hugely successful on the CBS schedule for years,” Kelly Kahl, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. “With the strong new addition of NCIS: Hawai’i, we are able to expand the strength of this formidable franchise across our schedule. We couldn’t be more excited to have all three talented casts and creative teams back to bring more compelling NCIS stories to viewers.”
Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Brian Dietzen, Diona Reasonover, and Katrina Law headline NCIS, which delivered 11.11 million viewers this broadcast season. Chris O’Donnell, LL Cool J, Linda Hunt, and Daniela Ruah are among the cast of Los Angeles, which averaged 7.27 million viewers this season. Hawai’i also had an impressive debut with an 8.29 million average. Vanessa Lachey, Alex Tarrant, Noah Mills, and Yasmine Al-Bustami star in the series.
The renewals come after CBS announced a global expansion of the franchise. The network is also producing NCIS: Sydney for Network 10 and Paramount+ Australia.
This noteworthy since the flagship NCIS moved from Tuesdays after 18 years to Mondays this season to a new time slot at 9 p.m. It also lost series lead Mark Harmon this season after a handful of episodes. He was replaced by Gary Cole, but ratings have endured despite fans pining for Harmon.
NCIS: Hawai’i debuted after the mothership at 10 p.m. on Mondays doing well out of the gat despite lead actress Vanessa Lachey’s initial wooden acting. She has grown as an actress over the season.
NCIS: LA remained in its Sunday 9 p.m. time slot this season and also saw cast changes with veteran actor Gerald McRaney promoted to series regular.
Not much is known about NCIS: Sydney except that it is likely not being promoted as police procedural geared for United States audiences, but with Paramount Plus they could enjoy it nonetheless.
This successful 2021-22 year for the three core NCIS shows follows NCIS: New Orleans being canceled after seven seasons last year and NCIS: Red not being picked up after a back door pilot in 2013 in NCIS: LA Season Season 4.
As of next season, NCIS would have been on the air for 20 seasons.
The only other scripted nighttime dramas with that kind of longevity and still on TV are below.
2) NBC
- Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) if renewed would be going into its 24th season next year.
- The original Law and Order returned this year after an 11 year hiatus and if renewed by NBC would be going into its 22nd season in 2022-23.
- While not as long-lived, but part of a dominant franchise similar to NCIS: Hawai’i, Law and Order: Organized Crime if renewed would be going into its third season next year.
- Chicago: Fire if renewed would enter its 11th season next year.
- Chicago: PD if renewed would enter its 10th season next year.
- Chicago: Med if renewed would enter its 8th season next year.
3) ABC
- Grey’s Anatomy if renewed would be entering its 19th season next year.
- While not long in the tooth, Grey’s spin-off Station 19 if renewed would be entering its 6th season.
4) FRANCHISES DOMINATE PRIMETIME IN BLOCKS
Mondays – If CBS moved NCIS: LA to Mondays CBS could have NCIS Mondays, but currently only NCIS shows air that night.
Tuesdays – CBS already has FBI Tuesdays. The lead for FBI: Most Wanted will be changing from Julian McMahon to Dylan McDermott (most recently on NBC’s Law and Order: Organized Crime).
Wednesdays – NBC has One Chicago on Wednesdays.
Thursdays – NBC has Law and Order Thursdays.
So, Fridays (and technically) Mondays do not have three back-to-back franchises in the 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. prime time slots on any network.
5) OTHER TV SERIES STILL GOING STRONG IN 2021
Now there are daytime shows, games shows and other programs that have been on the air for decades as well.
- 59 years – General Hospital (Soap Opera) debuted on April 1, 1963 and has been a 1 hour drama since 1978. (ABC)
- 57 years – Days of our Lives (Soap Opera) debuted on November 8, 1965 and since 1975 has been 1 hour long. (NBC)
- 53 years – Sesame Street (Variety Show) debuted on November 10, 1969. In 2015 it contracted to 30 minutes. (PBS)
- 50 years – Price is Right (Game Show) debuted on September 4, 1972. (CBS)
- 49 years – Young and the Restless (Soap Opera) debuted on March 26, 1973. (CBS)
- 47 years – Wheel of Fortune (Game Show) debuted on January 6, 1975. (ABC)
- 47 years – Saturday Night Live (Variety Show) debuted on October 11, 1975. (NBC)
- 46 years –Family Feud (Game Show) debuted on July 12, 1976. (CBS)
- 38 years – Jeopardy (Game Show) debuted on September 10, 1984. (NBC)
- 35 years – The Bold and the Beautiful (Soap Opera) debuted on March 23, 1987. (CBS)
- 33 years – The Simpsons (Cartoon) debuted on December 17, 1989. (FOX)
- 29 years – RAW (Wrestling) debuted on January 11, 1993. (USA)
- 23 years – Family Guy (Cartoon) debuted on January 31, 1999. (FOX)
- 23 years – Smackdown (Wrestling) debuted on April 29, 1999. (FOX)
- 22 years – Survivor (Reality Show) debuted on May 31, 2000. (CBS)
- 21 years – Amazing Race (Reality Show) debuted on September 5, 2001. (CBS)
Did I miss any other TV programming that has over 20 years in as of 2021?
The 2022-23 TV season is starting off strong with the NCIS renewals by CBS.
