Let’s be honest. The NCIS franchise used to be the crown jewel of crime procedurals. But somewhere along the way, it turned into an overpopulated maze of spinoffs, recycled storylines, and tired characters. Is the magic gone? Or are we just overwhelmed? In this deep-dive, we’ll explore why the once-beloved NCIS universe is starting to feel more like a chaotic crowd than a tight-knit team.
Just five years ago, it seemed as if audience demand for the franchise, in which NCIS and the spin-off shows NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans all aired alongside one another on the CBS prime-time schedule for several years, was inexhaustible. However, the cancelation of NCIS: Hawai’i, following the demise of Los Angeles and New Orleans, and the tenuous presence of NCIS: Sydney proves that the franchise has become over-saturated, to the point that the shows have begun to cannibalize one another in terms of viewership.
Indeed, as NCIS: Hawai’i was canceled partly to make room for a slate of new shows on CBS, including the upcoming prequel series, the recent renewal of NCIS: Sydney also made the exotic-looking Hawaiian series seem redundant on the network’s schedule. Moreover, NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney will eventually be joined by the recently announced Tony & Ziva spin-off series, which will reunite beloved characters Tony DiNozzo and Ziva Davis, played by Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.
NCIS: Hawai’i Ended Without a Proper Series Finale. Given that the third-season finale episode of NCIS: Hawai’i wasn’t at all intended to be the series finale, which the show’s cast and crew envisioned for the end of an abbreviated fourth season, the series’s end leaves several unresolved character and plot developments. The most significant story arc left forever unresolved by the show’s cancelation involves series lead Jane Tennant’s mother, who abandoned Jane when Jane was a child. The series instead ends with a two-part season finale in which Jane and her team, including NCIS: Los Angeles alumnus Sam Hanna, played by LL Cool J, attempt to track down a deadly biological weapon called Compound X.
Prior to the cancelation announcement, the show’s producers had intense discussions with CBS regarding the possibility of a 13-episode fourth season. Following the cancelation, the only way for NCIS: Hawai’i to achieve finality through a proper series finale is for CBS to either reverse its cancelation decision, as the network did with S.W.A.T., or give the show a fourth and final season on the Paramount+ streaming service. However, CBS has rejected either of these possibilities.
Indeed, the fact that NCIS: Hawai’i consistently generated stronger ratings than several renewed CBS shows, such as FBI: International, FBI: Wanted, and S.W.A.T., indicates that the cancelation of NCIS: Hawai’i is primarily attributable to cost, for which the expense of filming a series on location in Hawaii is prohibitive regardless of steep budget cuts, and the fact that CBS has three other shows in the franchise attached to its prime-time schedule for next season. Ultimately, the series became expendable. NCIS: Hawai’i is streaming now on Paramount+.
