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Stealth Smash: NCIS quietly becomes a surprise ratings hit
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Published: November 18, 2008
While no one was looking, a 6-year-old television series that lands on few magazine covers, enjoys almost no love from critics and never gets a sniff of a nomination for prestigious awards is suddenly the hottest show on the air.
Yes, that title really does belong to the CBS drama NCIS. The numbers are undeniable. Last week, that crime show about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service reached 18.8 million viewers in its 8 p.m. Tuesday time slot, more than it ever had before and more than any other show on television for the week.
But that statistic told only part of the success story. Two weeks ago, CBS decided to fill a weak hour, Friday at 9 p.m., with repeats of NCIS. In both weeks since, the repeat has been the most-watched show on Friday, with more than 11 million viewers each time.
And the cable network USA, which added NCIS repeats to its schedule in September, has seen its ratings soar anywhere it places NCIS. The show has dominated in its regular spot at 7 p.m., and on most nights it is the No. 1 or 2 entertainment show on cable, drawing audiences of more than 4 million.
Last Tuesday, when USA ran a marathon of NCIS episodes, the show finished in cable's Top 10 shows among the audience members that most cable networks seek -- viewers ages 25-54 -- at 6 p.m., 5 p.m. and even 4 p.m. More than 2 million people watched the drama at 4 p.m.; relatively few shows in all of cable attract that many people.
Audiences that big get the attention of advertisers as well. Steve Sternberg, the executive vice president for audience analysis at Magna Global, a media-buying agency, said in an e-mail, "I think NCIS is one of those rare shows that effectively combines drama and humor, and it hasn't lost a step creatively." He added, "There is a small central cast and closed-ended story lines. That makes it easier for new viewers to tune in."
Competitors privately profess some astonishment at the new popularity of the series because the improvement flies in the face of the recent formula for prime-time success: a grab-people-by-the-throat concept, lots of sex and must-see story elements that compel viewers to watch every episode or lose the thread.
But as shows like that, which tend to be serial dramas, experience a ratings slide, NCIS is part of a swing toward more traditional storytelling, the kind of shows that also prove to be valuable assets to their owners because they can play well over and over.
"I don't know if there's a complete swing back to closed-end storytelling," said David Stapf, the president of Paramount Network Television, the studio that produces NCIS. "But those shows certainly seem to be working right now."
Still, why would NCIS be working better than ever in its sixth season? CBS and Paramount executives pointed to a change in the show's creative leadership two years ago, when a veteran writer, Shane Brennan, took control as the "show runner" for NCIS. Brennan came aboard after the departure of the prolific television hit maker Don Bellisario (Magnum P.I., JAG), who was pushed out in a conflict with the show's star, Mark Harmon.
Often that sort of rift can derail a hit series, and Stapf admitted, "I was secretly worried about it."
But now Brennan is credited with breathing new life into the series. "He's given the show a sense of emotion you can really respond to," said Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment. She and Stapf also mentioned a somewhat unexpected element: humor. "It's a fun show," Stapf said.
Fun? The essence of the stories, which are not unlike those of the better-known CBS hit CSI, is murder. But the show does emphasize the camaraderie of a quirky band of investigators. Brennan said he looked for "the naturalistic kind of humor you find in any office where people work together."
The charge from CBS and Paramount had been to "open the show up and try new things," Brennan said. So he concentrated on what he called "the core of the show, the ensemble cast." That meant finding stories that also contained memorable character moments. "The audience remembers the moments, they forget the plots," Brennan said, adding, "It's really not a procedural."
But of course it is. That's certainly why USA was interested in buying the show two years ago. Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, said: "The show fit us perfectly. It was a procedural with strong character elements." And it had an upbeat tone.
Still, it was not as though there was a raging market for NCIS repeats.
"I wish I could have told you I predicted this," Hammer said.
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