NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003 — 2022)

NCIS is an American police procedural television series, revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service combining elements of the military drama and police procedural genres. The concept and characters were initially introduced in two episodes of the CBS series JAG (season eight episodes 20 and 21: “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown”). The show, a spin-off from JAG, premiered on September 23, 2003, on CBS. To date it has entered into the eighteenth full season and has gone into broadcast syndication on the USA Network. Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill are co-creators and executive producers of the premiere member of the NCIS franchise. As of 2021, it is the second-longest-running scripted, non-animated U.S. primetime TV series currently airing, surpassed only by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…), and is the 7th-longest-running scripted U.S. primetime TV series overall.

The series originally had the partly redundant title Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service; this was later shortened to NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service and then to NCIS. In season six, a two-part episode led to a spin-off series, NCIS: Los Angeles. A two-part episode during the eleventh season led to a second spin-off series, NCIS: New Orleans. While initially slow in the ratings, barely cracking the Top 30 in the first two seasons, the third season showed progress, consistently ranking in the top 20, and by its sixth season, it became a top-five hit, having remained there since. In 2011, NCIS was voted America’s favorite television show in an online Harris Poll. The series finished its tenth season as the most-watched television series in the U.S. during the 2012–13 network television season. NCIS was renewed for an eighteenth season on May 3, 2020, which premiered on November 17, 2020. On April 15, 2021, NCIS was renewed for a nineteenth season which is set to premiere on September 20, 2021.