In April 2003, the hit CBS military procedural JAG aired a two-part episode that acted as the backdoor pilot for its successor NCIS. No one could have guessed an eventual behemoth ensemble drama would grow from that moment that would go on to become a 20+ year franchise first led by Mark Harmon, then other big names. As Season 21 of the show closes out its place on the 2024 TV schedule, reflection is the word of the moment, and a longtime NCIS star has spoken out.
Previously, NCIS star Rocky Carroll said he thought he’d have two seasons before the show's cancellation. Yet the actor who’s played the role of NCIS Director Leon Vance since Season 5 has now seen milestones like the 100th, 200th, 400th, and even 1000th installments of the CBS mainstay come to pass, but not without a lot of love and hard work from the cast and crew.
It may have seemed that the latest milestone came and passed with little fanfare, but Carroll spoke with People about hitting the big 1-0-0-0 and why the lack of "relishing" is one of the reasons the show's made it on the air for so long.
But we don't spend a lot of time relishing it or celebrating in the end zone because we got a work day to finish. I think that's part of the reason why this show has been on for so long is because people come to work, and they're like, 'Hey, let's make another episode,' with the same energy that they had 15, 20 seasons ago.
The actor noted he didn’t even realize he was filming the 1000th episode until it had wrapped and that further revelations says it all. Indeed, when a show’s run is 21 seasons in, and it continues to develop new paths forward like the NCIS Origins prequel series or the Tony/Ziva spinoff that’ll hopefully please Paramount+ subscription holders, things get kind of busy.
So with so much going on surrounding the characters and their locales, how does a series like NCIS stay fresh after over two decades? Well, part of it is venturing into new territories, even if the results are only a handful of seasons for something like the recently cancelled NCIS: Hawaii.
Another piece of the recipe comes from Rocky Carroll’s reverence for the powers that be. He actually invoked a bit of Mark Harmon wisdom to explain NCIS' magical trajectory.
The producers and the writers allowed this show and allowed the characters to not be stuck in a certain year or a certain timeframe or at a certain age," he explains. "We evolved over these 20-something years. All the characters have gone through their own share of peaks and valleys, death, loss, separations, all these different things. . . . [Mark Harmon always said] ‘The star of this show has to be the agency.’
With all of the shake ups in personnel that have happened over the years, keeping NCIS itself as the “star of the show” would appear to be the huge secret that keeps everything else in check. As one of its longest running cast-mates, Rocky Carroll’s echoing of Mark Harmon’s thoughts just reinforces that everyone involved in CBS’s flagship drama has a good idea about what they're doing.
So, maybe it’s not too early to start thinking about where the 1500th episode may bring Gary Cole and his current crew of federal crime stoppers? Then again, when and if that chapter arrives, we'll probably see the NCIS crew celebrate in the same fashion as they did for the 1000th episode: a special lunch of commemoration, followed by heading right back into it.
NCIS Season 21 comes to a close tonight with the episode entitled “Reef Madness.” You can catch it as it airs on CBS, tonight at 9 PM ET; or you can watch it the next day through Paramount+. Which is the perfect resource, should you find yourself wanting to catch up on any naval criminal investigations you may have missed.
