Getting a pilot for a TV show ordered is hard enough to do, and it only gets more difficult for said show to make it through its first season without being cancelled. Lasting multiple seasons? Even harder. But running for over two decades? That’s a rare feat, albeit one that NCIS has pulled off on CBS.
Debuting in 2003 as a spinoff of JAG , the procedural is now airing its 22nd season on the 2024 TV schedule , with many actors and behind-the-scenes talent coming and going from it over the decades. Shane Brennan is one of those people, and the executive producer shared that there was a specific episode that had NCIS fans freaking out, but made him realize that the series was “going to be safe.” Brennan stopped by Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch to talk with hosts Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo about his work on both NCIS , which the actors starred in once upon a time as Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, respectively, as well as its first spinoff, NCIS: Los Angeles , which he created.
After discussing when he became sure that Los Angeles would be around for a while, he then went over how he came to the same realization on the flagship show, and it stemmed from an episode he wrote. Brennan started off by saying: On NCIS, I knew that that was going to happen at the season finale of Season 5. Judgement Day Part 1 and 2.
.. I knew NCIS was in for a long run because the finale for that season aired on the East Coast.
It finished airing as I was getting on a plane in LA to fly back to.
