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‘NCIS’ 3-Way Crossover Crushes TV Ratings While Going Up Against College Football Championship

NCIS used the strength of a three-show crossover event to smash through season highs in its audience numbers. It was going up against some tough competition in the college football championship game. But the work between NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i, and NCIS: Los Angeles proved to be a formidable one-two-thee punch for CBS. The network reportedly had its most-watched Monday night of programming since last April’s NCAA men’s basketball championship game.

So, how did the numbers add up? NCIS kicked off the 3-parter with 7.7 million total viewers (its largest audience since October 2021) and a 0.5 demo rating. NCIS: Hawai’i retained 7.2 million viewers (a Monday high for the series) and a 0.5 demo rating. That was followed by NCIS: Los Angeles with 6.7 million viewers ( its best audience since April 2020) and a 0.5 demo rating.

‘NCIS’ Big Crossover Event Proved To Be A Ratings Smash Hit

Over on NBC, AGT: All Stars (4.3 million/0.5 demo rating) dipped week-to-week, TV Line reports. But the renewed Quantum Leap (1.7 million/0.3) slipped to an audience low against stronger competition.

On FOX, Fantasy Island (1.6 million/0.2) was steady. In its regular time slot, Alert: Missing Persons Unit (1.5 million/0.2) drew a fraction of its post-NFL premiere numbers (3.8 million/0.8). Meanwhile, on ABC, The Parent Test did 1.8 million/0.3, followed by a rerun of Will Trent at 1.6 million/0.2.

The NCIS three-show crossover had stars from all three shows appear on different episodes. There was one solid storyline that tied all three shows together. A beloved professor dies and the circumstances are up for investigation. Ahead of the big event, Brian Dietzen took to Twitter and pumped up the fans with a little bit of an announcement. He wrote in part, “Tonight!! #NCIS three hour crossover event! Three NCIS shows. One Night.”

From the looks of those ratings numbers, it looks like NCIS hit a grand small with the crossover night. At the end of the NCIS: Los Angeles episode, there was a little bit of a tease about doing the work all over again. Could another crossover happen? We would not hold out hope for another one this season. Yet there’s plenty of hope looking to the future of these three shows. Everything worked seamlessly on Monday night.

Other stars were adding their two cents to the discussion about the big event. Chris O’Donnell, who plays G Callen on NCIS: LA, said that “big stuff” was to come on the shows. He talked with Entertainment Tonight about the crossover. O’Donnell, in speaking with ET, said that the storyline ended up just being “too big for one team” to cover. Then, you have NCIS: Hawai’i star Vanessa Lachey who added that it “takes three hours to tell this storyline.”