NCIS enters season 15 with another most-watched title under its belt

Three out of the past four years, NCIS has been able to boast a very unique honor: Being the most-watched show in the world. Now, they can do so again.

The CBS series received the honor while at the Monte Carlo TV Festival recently, and what this effectively means is that in between America and the rest of the world, there are still tons of people checking out the show. The number is over 47 million an episode, which is incredible given that it means that well more than half of the show’s audience is coming from beyond the United States. That is even more incredible when you remember that this is a show effectively all about the United States Navy. On the surface, you would think of this as a patriotic show that would only appeal to super-patriotic American audiences. Not so much.

One of the appeals of NCIS, now entering season 15 in America, is that there is so much of it that is now recognizable. You can detect Mark Harmon in the blink of an eye; meanwhile, Pauley Perrette’s Abby is such a memorable character that she would be well-known halfway around the world. While there is a lot of change still in the aftermath of Michael Weatherly’s exit (some countries are still catching up to that), clearly the show is doing enough to keep most viewers firmly invested in the series and its stories.

The challenge now comes in maintaining that when there continues to be so much flux. NCIS is being run by new showrunners now following the sad death of Gary Glasberg, and Jennifer Esposito is gone after one season as Alex Quinn. It still remains to be seen if someone decides to bring in another cast member, or roll with the crew that is already there. Some of the longstanding cast members, beyond just Harmon and Perrette, include Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer and Sean Murray as Timothy McGee. While neither one of them was a regular in the first season, they can boast that they’ve been around from season 1 and have beloved followings of their own.

NCIS season 15 will start airing on CBS in September; before then, we envision that further news will come out. You can see everything that we’ve got on the subject of the show now by heading over to the link here. (Photo: CBS.)

Do you think that NCIS will keep up the honor of having the world’s #1 show? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.