NCIS: New Orleans, the third series in the popular NCIS franchise, ran for seven seasons before concluding in 2021. It holds the distinction of being the first NCIS series to be canceled. Here’s why.
Despite maintaining a solid viewership throughout its run on CBS, NCIS: New Orleans struggled to match the ratings and syndication success of its sister shows, NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. The show’s syndication deals, crucial for selling the series to other platforms and international markets, were less lucrative compared to those of the other NCIS series. This discrepancy played a significant role in CBS’s decision to end the show with its seventh season, a decision announced about two months before the season finale.
Further compounding the cancellation decision was a notable decline in ratings. Reports revealed a nearly 25% drop in viewership in the seventh season compared to Season 6, with NCIS: New Orleans consistently attracting less than half the viewership of the flagship NCIS series. As CBS prepared to launch a fourth NCIS spinoff, NCIS: Hawai’i, the network chose to cut the least-watched NCIS series to make way for new programming.
Premiering in 2014, NCIS: New Orleans was introduced in Season 11 of NCIS as a branch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service overseeing the Gulf of Mexico Delta. The series starred Scott Bakula as Supervisory Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride, who led a dynamic task force working to protect those involved with the U.S. Navy in the southern port cities.
