CBS has renewed Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former U.S. Marine sniper who commands the titular Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
To date, Harmon and co-star David McCallum (as chief medical examiner Donald “Ducky" Mallard) have starred in 378 episodes of NCIS. In April 2003, CBS released two “introductory” episodes, both of which were written by Bellisario and McGill. Approximately five months later, NCIS officially premiered as part of CBS’ fall lineup, and has since earned three Emmy nominations while being a perennial ratings powerhouse. In 2009, the spinoff NCIS was was the fourth most-watched television show.
Per Diona Reasonover was promoted to the main cast as Kasie Hines.
Last January, Us. By renewing NCIS, CBS has embraced a familiar and proven franchise, one that continues to land big viewership numbers.
Now 83 years old, NCIS’ co-creator Bellisario is a legitimate icon of television production. Shortly after the series premiered, Bellisario earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, this coming after he’d created and produced landmark series like Quantum Leap, and JAG. Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see if NCIS season 17 includes a variety of directors and writers, or whether they enlist a relatively big name to attract younger viewers. After 16 seasons, however, the NCIS formula seems to be working just fine.
Source: Variety