That’s what we can’t help musing on tonight, as THR reports that CBS has extended its orders for NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and freshman series NCIS: Hawai’i for another year apiece. Among other things, that brings the flagship show up to a staggering 20 seasons on the air; kids who were born the day the series debuted on April 22, 2003 are now just a few years short of legal age to drink in the United States, and then hopefully not do any naval crimes, because that’s how the NCIS crew getcha.
Not that unruly adolescent NCIS: Los Angeles is a spring chicken, either: Today’s renewal notice brings the series up to its 14th season of Chris O’Donnell-adjacent criminal investigations. (Had you ever wondered where Chris O’Donnell’s been for the last 14 years? On NCIS: Los Angeles, with LL Cool J and Major Dad, apparently.)
The newcomer, of course, is Hawai’i, which stars Vanessa Lachey, the first female lead the franchise has ever had. The series debuted back in September of 2021, and whiles its viewership has only been a fraction of what the original series brings in, a fraction of “the most watched TV show on network TV” still amounts to a healthy 5 or 6 million viewers every week. And while the original show doesn’t bring in quite the viewers it attracted at its peak—averaging out around 12 million episode, down from the ludicrous 20-plus million it brought in during most episodes back in 2012—it’s still going strong, despite star Mark Harmon departing the series earlier this season.
In describing the decision to renew all three shows, a CBS executive told THR “a bunch of things we didn’t bother to write down, frankly, since all we can hear is ‘Money printer go BRRRRRRR.’”
