Monday night, the American channel CBS broadcast the first episode of “NCIS” without Gibbs, since Mark Harmon left the series after 18 seasons. Have the public remained loyal to the NCIS investigations without its hero? We have the answer.
What future for NCIS: Special Investigations without its main character? This is the question we can ask ourselves following the departure last week of Mark Harmon, the interpreter of Gibbs, at the end of the fourth episode of season 19 of the successful detective series created by Donald Bellisario (JAG).
After 418 episodes and a little more than 18 seasons spent at the head of the NCIS team, agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs has indeed decided to make a new start in Alaska, far from the investigations and the agitation of Washington. A well-deserved rest for Mark Harmon, his interpreter, who still continues to occupy the position of executive producer on the series, but who comes after the recent departures of Maria Bello (Sloane) and Emily Wickersham (Bishop).
Already marked, over the years, by the release of central figures such as Michael Weatherly (DiNozzo), Cote de Pablo (Ziva), or Pauley Perrette (Abby), can NCIS continue to exist – and to be one of the most powerful series on the planet – without its hero and without many of the characters who contributed to its success?
If we are to believe the audience figures of the 5th episode of season 19, broadcast Monday night in the United States on CBS, it seems that the answer is “yes”. This first episode without Mark Harmon has indeed gathered 7.65 million viewers, for a rate of 0.62 on the privileged target of 18-49 years.
An audience score which, beyond allowing CBS to rank first of the evening (in millions of viewers against The Voice or Dancing With The Stars on NBC and ABC), are in line with the previous episodes of the season 19, launched on September 20 across the Atlantic.
The NCIS episode of October 11, which focused on Gibbs’ farewells, posted almost the same audience figures – 7.66 million curious for a rate of 0.56 – while the previous three gathered 8.45, 8 respectively. , 06, and 7.96 million viewers.
NCIS therefore seems, for the moment, little impacted by the departure of Mark Harmon audience level. All the more so since the notable drop between season 18, which had gathered on average, in audience day before, nearly 9.5 million faithful, and the current season 19 is especially to be put on the account of the change of day of broadcast, since CBS has moved NCIS from Tuesday to Monday night since the start of the school year.
But we will have to remain attentive to the evolution of the numbers over the course of season 19 to see if the new team of the NCIS, reinforced by the recent arrivals of the agents Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) and Alden Parker (Gary Cole), manages to to thrill just as much the public fond of detective series, which will perhaps take a few weeks before fully feeling the lack of Gibbs.
NCIS remains in any case a strong brand on CBS since the franchise also includes NCIS Los Angeles, recently returned to the air for a season 13, and the little new NCIS: Hawaii, already confirmed for a full season due to good results of ‘hearing.
