By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Now that Season 22 of NCIS has come to an end, with Season 23 arriving in September, it’s surpassed the total runs of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, all of which lasted seven seasons, and it’s only three years away from passing them all in cumulative episode count as well. While sci-fi shows have always struggled to maintain ratings, the broad appeal of the record-setting navy police procedural has turned it into the most popular show in the country on multiple occasions. It’s the harsh reality of being a fan of genre television, that no matter how well-written a series like The Expanse or The Orville may be, it’s struggling every week on the air, while the Adventures of Young Leeroy Jethro Gibbs is returning for a second season.
The Ratings Struggle
Star Trek: The Original Series became a cultural institution years after it was canceled for low ratings, though the reality is that it was one of the most successful shows on NBC at the time, routinely winning its time slot, at least at first, but the ratings cratered and the audience wandered away, spooking the network into an early cancelation. Over 30 years later, NCIS struggled in its first two seasons as well, before catching fire in Season 3 right around when Cote de Pablo’s Ziva became part of the main cast. One show was granted time to find an audience, the other was cut off at the knees, and this pattern is still repeating today.
There’s multiple reasons why Firefly couldn’t even air all of its episodes, but NCIS: Hawaii aired for three seasons. For one, sci-fi can be expensive, you need different sets, planets, alien makeup on a regular basis, and VFX-heavy shots multiple times a season, while a procedural is, by its nature, cheap by comparison. Secondly, it’s much harder to write good sci-fi than it is a procedural, both take talent, but the former has to hold up to the most intense level of scrutiny from “fans” while the latter doesn’t seem to know how computers work.
Sci-Fi Is Too Dense For The Mainstream
That’s the real reason why NCIS has made more money than every Star Trek series this century, The Expanse, The Orville, The Mandalorian, Three Body Problem, and even Supernatural put together: it’s easily accessible and the fans simply turn off and tune out when there’s a series that doesn’t appeal to them, they don’t create a firestorm on social media. From the perspective of a studio executive it’s safe money, which is why every year sees a new procedural hit the airwaves even if its premise is as flimsy as Tracker its viewed as a better bet than adapting Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy into the episodic format that it deserves.
Then again, NCIS fans can’t match the passion of a Star Wars, Star Trek, or even The Expanse fan, all of whom will dress up as their favorite characters, play the video games, read the tie-in novels (or source novels in the case of The Expanse) and find a bit of themselves in the elaborate sci-fi worlds that unfold before them week after week. What makes these franchises great is what makes it toxic to a studios bottom line. CBS must be grateful it has the Tony and Zhiva spin-off in the works, because after Star Trek: Section 31, even the most die-hard Trekkies are terrified of what’s coming next for the franchise.
NCIS Is Worth More Than Sci-Fi’s Greatest Shows
That “safe” money adds up, with one season of NCIS worth more money than all five of Babylon 5, and the amount of money Sean Murray has made for playing McGee for 22 seasons means he’s earned more than the entire cast of Farscape and Stargate Universe. There’s the initial airing, and then the constant repeats, which at this point are enough to sustain an entire cable channel. Even the best sci-fi series, go ahead, pick your favorite, can’t touch that financial rate of return and importantly, returning viewers.
NCIS struggled during its first two seasons, but acclaimed fan-favorites, including Supernatural, Babylon 5, Farscape, and The Expanse, struggled their entire runs, with The CW executives admitting that the Winchester brothers were kept on the air for 15 seasons thanks to social media, and not the actual number of viewers. Procedurals are safe, a little dull, but even the worst of them feels like comfort food, while sci-fi can be challenging, thought-provoking, and requires paying attention. It’s also another reason why even the best of them can’t come close to the most successful series of the last 20 years.
Granted, NCIS isn’t a bad show, it’s well-made, and while you’ll always know a trend has died when it’s featured in an episode, that’s part of the kitschy charm of the harmless series. You can throw on a random episode from any season and be entertained, which is something you can’t do with your favorite sci-fi series. Imagine if you started Battlestar Galactica with “Exodus, Part II?”
Keep in mind, whenever fans start arguing that Section 31 or Discovery have destroyed Star Trek, or that Killjoys is underrated, that ultimately, it’s a tiny drop in the bucket of the entertainment landscape. NCIS may be unexciting, but that translates to massive popularity the likes of which any sci-fi fan dreams of their favorite receiving.
