Ratings: NCIS season 16 slides; Lethal Weapon ties season high

When looking at the official ratings for Tuesday night, one thing stands out — NCIS doesn’t get the same ratings love without a lot of hype. Last week’s episode generated some of the best ratings of the season, in part because of the heavy promotion and questions as to whether or not Ziva was actually alive.

NCIS video – Be sure to check out our most recent video regarding the Ziva episode below! Also, be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube so you don’t miss out on our NCIS videos and check out our full show playlist.

For this week’s new episode, however, we saw things slow down to a certain extent. Tuesday’s episode entitled “Once Upon a Tim” (which was a really incredible episode and showcase for McGee) ended up generating a 1.2 rating overall. That’s down over 10% from the past episode “She,” but still in line with the season average. NCIS hasn’t been the mega-hit that it used to be on CBS for a while, but it does still remain one of television’s biggest shows. It’s down less than 10% on average in both the demo and total viewers from season 15, which is incredibly good retention. This is without even mentioning the series’ global popularity or its DVR numbers, which are also strong.

The better news from last night’s episode comes via Lethal Weapon, which managed to tie its season-high rating of 0.8. That’s great news heading into the finale, and maybe the show’s steady performance at least gives it a fighting chance of a season 4 renewal down the line. The Gifted (which followed it and posted a 0.5) appears destined to be canceled, but for Lethal Weapon, there’s a little bit more debate. While we don’t foresee it getting a 22-episode season again like it had the first two times, there could be some value in it being a 13 or 15-episode show again. It does have some good franchise value all over the world, though it is penalized somewhat by it being a show from an outside studio in Warner Bros. TV.

Prepare to hear some good news about an NCIS renewal at some point before we get around to May; however, there’s a good chance that any news about Lethal Weapon will be left until May. If you want to keep it around, be sure to watch the finale live next week. That’s the best way in order to ensure that the show sticks around for a little while longer.

Related News – Be sure to check out some more news on NCIS, including updates on what is coming up next!

What do you think about the ratings for this week’s primetime lineup? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments, and stay tuned for more news. (Photo: CBS.)