After 500 episodes, ‘NCIS’ continues to thrive with no signs of stopping

We’re used to seeing the intrepid group of naval particular brokers on CBS’ crime procedural “NCIS” working collectively to resolve the hardest instances and convey down the worst villains. But even they could be stumped when confronted with the gargantuan problem of developing with a deserving story to encapsulate the distinctive feat of producing 500 episodes of tv.

But the group can relaxation straightforward since that job fell to “NCIS” showrunner and government producer Steven D. Binder, who wrote Tuesday’s episode, “All Good Things” (with José Clemente Hernandez directing). He shares that concepts began popping up in his thoughts when the present’s twenty second season was wrapping up final 12 months. “I started thinking ‘What questions should I be asking?’ I knew it had to be something big that resonates with the fans and should be worthy of the 500th,” he says.

With its five hundredth episode, the present will rank among the many longest-running scripted, live-action American prime-time collection, behind “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order.” But how “NCIS” started its journey to this uncommon milestone is a worthwhile story in and of itself.

In April 2003, CBS’ standard navy procedural drama collection “JAG” was used as a backdoor pilot to introduce a group of extremely expert particular brokers from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, led by no-nonsense supervisory particular agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Working underneath Gibbs was snappy particular agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), quirky forensics specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) and endearing chief health worker Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum).

“NCIS” premiered Sept. 23, 2003, with Gibbs, DiNozzo, Abby and Ducky, in addition to particular agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) becoming a member of the Washington, DC, group. However, the collection did not burst out of the gate because the juggernaut hit it might develop into. Instead, its freshman season ranked an unspectacular No. 26 amongst all 2003-04 prime-time broadcast applications, but it surely was sufficient to hold it on the air because the viewers slowly began to develop. By Season 3, the collection was repeatedly touchdown within the high 20. And by Season 6, it grew right into a stable high 5 present, and eventually, in Season 10, “NCIS” was the No. 1 broadcast collection on tv.

It’s develop into an enormous worldwide hit, licensed in over 200 territories all over the world, subtitled in 35 languages, dubbed in 12 languages. “NCIS” is now the No. 1 TV franchise globally in phrases of whole minutes considered.

Additionally, the collection has spawned quite a few spinoffs, set in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Hawaii, in addition to one centered on fan-favorite characters Tony and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo). Currently airing is a prequel collection, “NCIS: Origins,” which follows a youthful Gibbs (Austin Stowell, with Harmon narrating) in his early NCIS days, and the franchise’s first worldwide spinoff, “NCIS: Sydney,” streaming on Paramount+.

Clearly, “NCIS” has hit on a profitable method leading to enduring success and one of the components for that, in accordance to David Stapf, president, CBS Television Studios, is consolation. “You know what you’re going to get and it feels good and you love it so you get that weekly dose or, nowadays, a daily dose because it’s everywhere,” he says.

In 2009, “NCIS” celebrated its one hundred and fiftieth episode with a cake-cutting ceremony. From left, collection regulars Rocky Carroll, David McCallum, Cote de Pablo, Mark Harmon, Sean Murray, Pauley Perrette, Michael Weatherly and visitor star Robert Wagner.

(Sonia Flemming/CBS)

And in an period when time slots aren’t as do or die for a broadcast collection’ success, the truth that, besides from 2021 to 2025, “NCIS” has constantly aired on CBS Tuesdays at 8 pm, should not be dismissed. “I am a believer that time slots matter, but viewers will watch the show everywhere,” says Amy Reisenbach, president, CBS Entertainment. “They watch it on linear and they watch it on Paramount+, where it’s consistently been a top streaming performer.”

Like any long-running collection, solid members come and go, and people departures can generally alter a present’s future. “NCIS,” nonetheless, has weathered a myriad of solid adjustments and the viewers continues to come again. The finest instance is when Harmon determined to step down in 2021 — Gibbs determined a life fly fishing in Alaska was extra his pace. But it was practically not possible to conceive of “NCIS” with out Gibbs or Harmon (who continues as an government producer). What would the longer term maintain for the present and franchise?

“It’s honest to say that losing Mark Harmon was definitely a little nerve-racking,” says Reisenbach. “He had been with the show since the beginning and had been so synonymous with the show but… the DNA has remained the same.”

Adds Stapf, “It’s a testament to the writers as well but you’re always nervous about a show that’s working when you change one little aspect because it is that alchemy that makes this show work.” He credit the writers for bringing in new, fleshed-out characters that do greater than fill gaps on the group. For instance, as soon as the steely Gibbs was gone, Gary Cole’s particular agent Alden Parker was markedly completely different with his laid-back chief vibes and quirky hobbies equivalent to speaking true crime and mixing cocktails on his on-line present.

But Gibbs hasn’t been relegated to the previous and his identify nonetheless comes up sometimes, together with within the five hundredth episode case, although getting there for Binder was a journey. “On the case side of things, I wanted something that encompassed the totality of the show,” he says. However, having revisited a case from the present’s very first episode, “Yankee White,” for a 2024 celebration of the franchise’s 1,000 episodes, that concept was out. “So, I thought, ‘Well, can we go back to episode number two?’”

The reply was sure and this week’s installment nodes to that 2003 episode. The group meets up with a determined younger man named Billy Fuentes (Austin Marques), a Marine’s son, who as a boy, Gibbs promised that NCIS would at all times be there for him if he ever wanted them. “We even got the same actor, who was great,” says Binder.

Although the case is linked to the previous and a few Easter eggs pop up, do not count on it to be a lighthearted biggest hits episode. “This is an event episode and one that’s going to change the DNA of the show and how the show operates from here on out until we’re done,” says Brian Dietzen, who has performed chief health worker Dr. Jimmy Palmer for the reason that first season.

Part of the large occasion started on the finish of final week’s episode, when a shocked NCIS director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) tells Parker that NCIS is being shut down. Tuesday’s episode picks up that thread with the longer term of the group in jeopardy and performs out otherwise from the “NCIS” norm. “I thought it might be nice to play with the format a little bit, and that just gives the episode some energy,” teases Binder. “You have to keep it fresh and keep it new, but you always have to keep it within the same vein so that the next episode won’t be vastly different,” says Dietzen. “As an actor, it’s a challenge to do, but it’s a challenge that’s a really fun one to accept.”

Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance in “All Good Things,” Tuesday’s episode that picks up on the information that the longer term of the group is in jeopardy.

(Robert Voets/CBS)

An enormous part of “NCIS” that has remained constant from day one is that it is greater than a case-of-the-week procedural. “We have a character-driven procedural which, when we started, this kind of a show was not really a thing,” says Sean Murray, who has performed particular agent Timothy McGee for the reason that first season. The actor cites how followers beloved studying years in the past that McGee was additionally moonlighting as a author of the fictional “Deep Six” novels that characteristic heroic characters loosely primarily based on the NCIS group (assume Tibbs as an alternative of Gibbs, for instance).

Carroll, who has performed Vance for the reason that present’s fifth season, admits he did not assume he’d be within the character’s sneakers too lengthy given most exhibits do not final so long as “NCIS” has. He signed onto the present partly to reunite with Harmon, whom he beforehand labored with on the CBS medical drama “Chicago Hope.” “I literally thought to myself, ‘Well, I made it to the tail end of the series. If it goes seven or eight seasons, I’ll get two or three seasons out of it,'” he says, including with a smile. “That was 18 seasons ago.”

And whereas the unique essential solid that began on “JAG” so a few years in the past is lengthy gone (though they sometimes flip up for an episode or two), newer solid members have now develop into the vets. For instance, Wilmer Valderrama joined in Season 14 as particular agent Nick Torres, Diona Reasonover’s forensics scientist Kasie Hines joined in Season 15 and on the finish of Season 18, Katrina Law first appeared as particular agent Jessica Knight.

For Valderrama, he had preliminary reservations about becoming a member of the collection and questioned what he may deliver to such a longtime present. “It was in that first meeting where I realized very quickly that what ‘NCIS’ does really well is that it evolves with the times and with its audience,” the actor says. “I realized there was an opportunity there to do something very unique, to light the screen with different colors that I hadn’t painted with before.”

Wilmer Valderrama, who performs Nick Torres on “NCIS,” joined the present in Season 14. (Robert Voets/CBS)

Diona Reasonover joined the solid of “NCIS” in Season 15, taking part in forensics scientist Kasie Hines. (Michael Yarish/CBS)

Reasonover had the arduous process of changing fan favourite Perrette, who left the present after 15 seasons in 2018. Like Carroll, a long-running gig was the very last thing on her thoughts when she started taking part in the energetic, joyful Kasie. “I didn’t know if [the producers] just wanted to have a quick blip of someone else [to fill Abby’s forensics role] and then move on to someone different,” she says.

But that turned out not to be the case. And in one other instance of the present reflecting on the occasions, Reasonover is proud of the truth that the “NCIS” universe has had a number of queer characters together with Kasie. “It’s so nice because it just feels like real life and I always think that’s what people relate to,” she says.

Thanks to his breakout function as Fez on “That 70’s Show,” Valderrama was already well-known earlier than becoming a member of “NCIS” and he is observed which function followers acknowledge him for has modified. “At the end of this season, I will have made 200 episodes of ‘NCIS’ and I did 200 of ‘That 70’s Show,’” he says. “I would say it’s like 57% Torres, but I still get Fez a lot since so many people grew up with that guy.”

Since neither the love from followers nor the rankings are diminishing for “NCIS,” which was renewed in January for a twenty fourth season alongside with “Origins” and “Sydney,” is the universe performed increasing or may we get extra spinoffs?

“The door is always going to be open because we know how successful ‘NCIS’ is and that the fans have continued to enjoy new iterations,” Reisenbach says.