NCIS season 18 episode 4: Why the long wait for ‘Sunburn’ to air?

If you did not know before now, NCIS season 18 episode 4 is not airing for another three weeks. Tuesday, January 19 is a long time to wait for new episodes, especially given that this is a season with so few episodes out there for the public to see. By comparison, the first three episodes of season 17 aired well before the end of October 2019.

Granted, we are in a totally different world now — the pandemic has changed dramatically how the TV industry functions, and we’re not at a place right now to suggest when things could go back to normal. We have to roll with the punches and see how episodes are produced during these hard times.

For some more NCIS video discussion, be sure to check out our take on the most-recent installment “Blood and Treasure” below! Once you do that, subscribe to Matt & Jess on YouTube and then also view our show playlist.

So if you’re wondering why you are waiting so long for more NCIS, the pandemic is clearly the #1 reason — we would’ve had easily seven or eight episodes on the air already, at least, if this was a normal season. Yet, it is a little bit more complicated than just this.

One of the considerations that CBS seems to be taking into account for their Tuesday-night lineup right now is making sure they have complete nights. If they have a new episode of NCIS, for example, they want to ensure that they follow it up with FBI or FBI: Most Wanted. After all, they want the ratings to trickle down from one show to the other! Fundamentally, this makes a lot of sense. In order to do this, though, episodes for all three shows need to be ready and that’s tough given pandemic restrictions and the like.

Where things get more complicated for NCIS is that there are actually going to be two episodes airing on January 19, leading into FBI: Most Wanted after the fact. Why do things like this, as opposed to airing one NCIS on the 12th and one the following week? It’s possible that FBI/FBI: Most Wanted would not be ready on the 12th; or, it’s possible that CBS just wanted these NCIS episodes to air back-to-back because they are linked. FBI is airing a special episode on Sunday, January 24, so they’ll catch up then for the episode they miss on the 19th. Then, it’s back to business as usual.

Even though we’re waiting a long time for more NCIS, we do feel confident that the wait will be worthwhile.

Related News – Check out more news all about these upcoming episodes

What do you want to see on NCIS season 18 when it returns?

Be sure to let us know in the comments, and also come back soon to get some other news. (Photo: CBS.)

This article was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.