Should NCIS, Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0 get their own convention?

This weekend is San Diego Comic-Con, arguably one of the biggest weekends for television news of the entire year. However, the news that tends to come out of the convention is limited to a select group of shows — often they are shows based on comic properties, or others that tend to have a big genre following. The vast majority are adaptations of something that are familiar to fans of both science fiction or fantasy.

Are there occasions in which there are shows at Comic-Con that really shouldn’t be there? It pretty much happens every year, so we’re not altogether shocked that it’s happening again this time around. For the record, we’re certainly not saying in this article that shows like NCIS, Criminal Minds, The Blacklist, or Hawaii Five-0 get their own convention; however, we do wish that there was a separate circuit that was out there in order to celebrate shows like this, and give these stars opportunity to meet some of their fans.

The rise in fandom culture is one of many trends in the 21st century, and we’re seeing examples all across the board of how that is being monetized for profits. We’ve seen conventions for reality shows, ones for historical epics, and events like the ATX Television Festival that really honor all shows across the board. The closest thing to a show like NCIS getting a panel, though, is typically an event like PaleyFest, but even that doesn’t offer as much fan interaction as a typical convention would. Specialized conventions have become more of a thing for shows like The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, and the CW superhero universe. Why not create a major one now that is geared towards crime shows?

One of the appeals of a show like NCIS or The Blacklist is escapism — you watch them to get away from your problems, and you form connections with the actors as a result of that. Why not create an environment where you can explain to the cast what the show means to them? It cultivates better relationships, pushes profits, and creates a fun environment. We certainly think that there is interest, but what is lacking right now is a unified body that would push for something like this and make it happen.

When would you hold it?

This isn’t all that hard to figure out — have the convention in the spring, in the midst of many of the shows being on hiatus. This is when we’ve seen the casts of Chicago Fire/PD go overseas to do some conventions, and we’d love to see something a little bit more wide in scale here in North America. Why not give it a shot?

Now, your thoughts

What we want to know from you, as expected, is rather simple: Do you want to attend a convention featuring some of your favorite crime TV stars? Share in the comments!

While you wait for some of them to come back (or in some cases, start filming), you can head over here to read the latest on NCIS. (Photo: CBS.)