CBS Successfully Defends Its Most Controversial NCIS Decision In Years

Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb Published Oct 20, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account While the decision to extend the NCIS franchise might have seemed like a potentially foolhardy one only a few months ago, the success of the spinoff proves CBS made the right call with its new show. JAG’s 10-season run was incredibly impressive, and the show’s 227 episodes made it a ‘90s procedural to rival the historically successful ABC cop show NYPD Blue. That said, no one could have predicted what JAG would someday spawn. Debating in 2003, JAG’s spinoff NCIS has lasted a staggering 24 seasons and 509 episodes to date, and the show is still going strong in 2026. As if the success of NCIS itself weren’t enough, the series spawned the location-based spinoffs NCIS: LA, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Sydney, and NCIS: Hawai’i, as well as the character-centric spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva and the prequel NCIS: Origins. With such an absurdly large number of shows to its name, the NCIS franchise hardly seemed like it needed another proverbial feather in its cap. As such, commentators online were split when the location-based spinoff NCIS: New York was first announced. Set to follow NCIS: LA’s hero Sam Hanna as he returns to his home city, this LL Cool J vehicle runs the obvious risk of over saturating the market and splitting the franchise’s viewership. However, the ratings success of NCIS: New York proves there was no need for the franchise’s creators to worry. NCIS: New York Is TV's Number 1 New Show According to Deadline, NCIS: New York’s premiere earned a whopping 5.6 million viewers during its broadcast, a major improvement on its 2025 time slot predecessor, NCIS: Origins season 2. Although NCIS’s own season 24 premiere commanded an even bigger 6.45 million viewers, NCIS: New York’s astounding performance in its premiere still marks the procedural spinoff as the biggest new TV show of Fall 2026 so far. The fact that the New York spinoff managed to outdo season 3 of NCIS: Origins is all the more noteworthy since the prequel’s third outing brings back Mark Harmon’s Gibbs, a comeback that seemed sure to elevate the show’s ratings above competitors. To be clear, NCIS: Origins season 3 still commanded a large, impressive audience, but NCIS: New York’s unexpectedly massive success overshadowed this respectable premiere performance. Why Launching NCIS: New York Was So Divisive For CBS From the beginning, NCIS: New York was a source of controversy and contention for CBS. The show’s origins lay in the decision to launch a new location-based spinoff instead of renewing NCIS: Tony & Ziva for a second season, something that fans of that famous NCIS character pairing didn’t appreciate. NCIS: New York casting LL Cool J as its lead also sparked controversy, as this both severed his longstanding partnership with G. Callen in NCIS: LA and impacted the new show’s heroes. It was tougher for NCIS: New York to establish an ensemble cast of its own when the familiar and popular franchise veteran Hanna inevitably dominated proceedings. This was made worse when NCIS: New York’s premiere doubled down on Hanna's centrality with a plot directly linked to his personal past. Add in the fact that Hanna’s new partner was a new character played by Hawaii Five-0’s Scott Caan, thus implicitly retconning Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: LA’s crossover years earlier, and the spinoff had plenty of problems to contend with. However, NCIS: New York’s premier ratings prove that none of these issues could keep the new show down, and the indefatigable franchise remains a massive ratings giant as ever in 2026. While Caan’s potentially confusing recasting and the spinoff’s decision to utilize Hanna as its protagonist might have been divisive, NCIS: New York proved that the NCIS brand is still going strong. Source: Deadline Release Date October 6, 2026 Network CBS Directors Eagle Egilsson, Adam Davidson Cast Scott Caan Nick Schaeffer Writers R. Scott Gemmill Creator(s) R. Scott Gemmill