Is CBS getting ready to throw in the towel on “NCIS”?
After 18 years, the Navy procedural is moving to Mondays when it returns soon from the summer reruns. CBS has turned all of Tuesday over to Dick Wolf’s “FBI,” pushing “NCIS” from its home to a night when there’s a lot of competition.
To be fair, CBS added “NCIS Hawaii,” which will run right after the mothership show. But it’s late in the game to try another spin off. It’s also harder to do because “NCIS” ratings are starting to slow, and new cast members are coming.
The main new cast member is Gary Cole, who’s made a career in recent years of playing sarcastic types it may be hard to accept him as a straight laced military man. I don’t know he’ll keep a straight face. Cole isn’t exactly replacing Mark Harmon, but he is sort of as Harmon is cutting his appearances this season to a handful.
In truth, “NCIS” is on the fade. If Cole and other new additions don’t click, and Harmon is really about to exit, the party may be over. On Mondays, “NCIS” will competing with “The Voice,” which is still a blockbuster for NBC, and “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC. If “NCIS” is just trounced out of the gate by the two reality shows, a series wind up may be readied for the spring.
Well the days of Tony and Ziva are way in the distance. Pauley Perrette is gone, David McCallum is retired, Maria Bello has departed, and the world has moved on.
