NCIS Quietly Solved the Streaming Problem Every Network Show Faces

Editor's Note: The follwing contains spoilers for NCIS: Tony & Ziva Episode 9.

By all accounts, NCIS should not be thriving in 2025. In a world that has shifted primarily to streaming, this largely network-based franchise has defied all odds and remains one of the most-watched procedurals on the small screen. Over its 22-year-long run, it dominated programming for years, and even though it isn't necessarily the juggernaut it used to be, NCIS shows no indication of slowing down. In fact, it continues to expand the universe and employs techniques that other legacy network shows should probably be learning .

One of the more intuitive reasons NCIS has survived the surge in popularity of streaming is its long run. Over the years, the consistency of its content and release sched