One of the series in the NCIS franchise had its lowest-rated premiere. First things first, if you guessed that it was not the original NCIS that had low ratings befall it, you are entirely on the ball. The return of Cote de Pablo’s Ziva pulled in big ratings for the long-running series, which is not immune to downturns. You can also rule out NCIS: Los Angeles. It does not return until this Sunday (September 29). What NCIS show was it? Through the power of the process of elimination, we're left with NCIS: New Orleans.
Yes, the Scott Bakula-led crime drama suffered its lowest-rated premiere to date. The series launched its sixth season on the same night as NCIS. How low were the ratings?
NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 6 premiere drew in 6.47 million viewers, per THR. In the key 18-49 demo, the season opener pulled in a 0.7 rating. It is not the best news for the series as it heads out of the gate this season. As fans will recall, there was considerable fear surrounding it not getting renewed.
CBS did end up green-lighting the series’ return, and cast a CSI: NY vet in a critical role for Season 6. Will that be enough to swing the momentum back around for NCIS: New Orleans? Stay tuned. As far as NCIS was concerned, the return of Ziva is continuing to bring in a sizable audience for the crime drama.
NCIS easily won the night, outpacing its closet competition by almost 4 million viewers. The procedural brought in 12.27 million viewers and scored a 1.5 rating in the key demo. Fellow CBS series, FBI, pulled in 8.76 million for its Season 2 premiere. Those tuning in got to see FBI put a major character “in conflict.”
Equipped with sweet moments and the sound of strong competition, The Voice closed in on FBI’s impressive debut with 8.24 million viewers on Tuesday. While FBI had a 0.9 rating in the key demo, The Voice sang its way to a 1.5 rating. That puts NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 6 premiere just 1.5 million viewers behind The Voice. A competitive gap.
The tear-jerking NBC drama, This Is Us, topped Tuesday evening’s key demo with a stellar 1.8 rating. As a whole, This Is Us pulled in 7.67 million viewers. These are the live + same-day ratings, so delayed viewing could see the flash-forward friendly, This Is Us, and other series’ numbers surge.
On that track, NCIS: New Orleans could theoretically experience a bump in a positive direction. Delayed viewers have a good habit of doing that. Season 6 is just getting started, so it could go up from here!
New episodes of NCIS: New Orleans air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. Season 17 of NCIS will also continue on Tuesdays in the 8 p.m. ET timeslot on the Eye Network. The crime procedural’s return is part of this fall’s premieres. You can catch up on previous seasons of the original NCIS via Netflix, along with arriving new content.
