It seems more change is coming to the NCIS franchise next season, and fans are not going to be thrilled by the latest developments.
As previously reported, CBS has given a straight-to-series order to NCIS: New York starring LL Cool J and Scott Caan. The new series will debut as part of CBS’s fall lineup airing directly after NCIS in a move that will push NCIS: Origins back to 10 p.m. and result in NCIS: Sydney being pushed to midseason. Well, apparently the schedule won’t be the only thing changing next season for both NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney.
Deadline has confirmed that while both NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney will be coming back, CBS has reduced the episode orders for both shows, slashing them down to just 10 episodes each. For NCIS: Sydney, this change is a return to normal, as the first two seasons of the show were both on the short end before what’s become a super-sized 20-episode third season order. However, the 10-episode order for NCIS: Origins marks a major change for the show, which has produced 18-episode seasons in its first two seasons.
The episode reductions for both shows are a result of the change to the schedule and the fact that the two shows will share the 10 p.m. time slot in the schedule. NCIS: Origins season 3 will hold down the time slot in the fall with NCIS: Sydney season 4 then taking over the spot at midseason.
While NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney will each only produce 10 episodes next season, NCIS and NCIS: New York will each be getting 20 episodes. It’s expected that the first 10 episodes of their seasons will air in the fall alongside NCIS: Origins; they’ll then take a break in the winter before returning at midseason when NCIS: Sydney slots into the schedule.
It’s certainly disappointing to see NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney’s episode orders slashed in half, but it does beat the alternative. At least this way we’ll still get new seasons of the two shows, rather than seeing CBS bring one of the shows to an end just to make room in the schedule. Many had hoped CBS would have taken a similar route with NCIS: Hawaii, but the network chose to cancel the series rather than renew it for a smaller season.
The good news is that the NCIS franchise shows no signs of slowing down, as is evident by the introduction of yet another spinoff this fall. And while NCIS: New York's arrival has factored into the reduced episode orders for NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney, the truth is that CBS simply has too many shows on its schedule and had to make some tough calls to accommodate the wave of new shows coming next season, which includes four new series in a year when CBS only canceled three programs (two of those being comedies).
What fans need to make sure to do is to continue to show up and tune into both NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney to help keep both shows going beyond their forthcoming seasons.
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