~Suzanne
NCIS began showing in syndication on USA Network in 2008, a move that has been great for not only the Network, but for its original shows.
For those in the minority who are unaware, NCIS, which stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is a procedural series that focuses on a team of NCIS agents who investigate crimes against Navy and Marine personnel. When NCIS premiered on CBS in 2003, CSI was at the top of the TV rankings and similarities between the crime drama of NCIS and CSI can, and have, been drawn. NCIS started with some popularity, ranking just outside of the top twenty shows in its freshman and sophomore seasons, then broke into the top twenty it its third season and stayed in the position through its fourth season.
Though NCIS was gaining popularity, it was a bold move by USA Network to purchase the syndication rights to the show in 2006. It was that bold move, and incredible foresight, which has added to the success of USA Network.
Why? Because, though USA purchased the rights to NCIS while it was just inside the top twenty, over the next years to the present, NCIS has become one of the most popular TV shows on broadcast TV. It broke into the top five TV shows during its sixth season and has continued to rank even higher in the current seventh season. The seventh season premiere drew NCIS’s largest viewing audience ever. When the current season ends, there will have been 162 aired episodes of NCIS.
Not only is NCIS currently a wildly popular TV show on CBS, but, because it grew in popularity over seven seasons, there have been many fans like myself who are latecomers to the series. This is what has added to the success of the show in syndication on USA, at least in my opinion. The ability to catch up on episodes is made much easier by the frequent airings on USA. Currently USA airs two consecutive NCIS episodes in a row every week night starting at 6pm/5pm central (at least, when there isn’t a marathon of another show running during those times), often has NCIS marathons during the weekends, another two episodes on Wednesday nights during primetime, and various other showings. Personally, I catch these airings whenever possible, trying to catch up on all the episodes I have never before seen. USA Network has given fans plenty of opportunities to see NCIS episodes from a variety of seasons.
NCIS also works well into USA Network’s theme of “Characters Wanted”. With a strong cast of interesting characters, NCIS seems a good fit for the growing cable network. However, some USA Network fans have expressed dismay over the frequent airings of acquired series when many USA Original Series are rarely aired in repeats on the Network. Though Monk repeats were often shown on the network, programs such as Psych, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Royal Pains, and White Collar seem to be hard to catch up on outside of rare airings of old episodes and DVD viewing.
When asked about rerun of USA originals, Ted Linhart, the Vice President of Program Research at USA Network and a popular Twitterer for USA fans, reported that original series usually don’t bring in the viewing numbers that acquired shows like NCIS do, even when shown in marathon.
However, fans of the original series shouldn’t fear network acquisitions like NCIS, but should embrace them. Not only has NCIS added to the overall success of USA Network, but it can add to the success of the original series as well by being a strong lead in to prime time original shows on USA Network. More viewers for original series are always a good thing for us fans, hopefully leading to greater popularity and continued renewing of our favorite series. And, maybe, with some hope, if established series such as Psych and Burn Notice continue to gain popularity over their upcoming 5th and 4th seasons, we may be rewarded with more frequent airings of older episodes.
It was recently widely announced that USA Network has also bought the syndication rights to the NCIS spin-off, NCIS: LA. A surprising move as the show has not even finished its freshman season on CBS. Though it has ranked in the top ten, the long term success of NCIS: LA is yet to be seen and not guaranteed. Under the purchasing agreement rights, USA will not be able to show episodes until September 2011, what would be the expected premiere year for the 3rd season of the show.
Though NCIS has been a huge success for USA Network, the risk may be even greater for the network for NCIS: LA. Not only was the show sold into syndication in a record amount of time, after the airing of only seven episodes (most shows are established, with around 100 episodes, before being sold into syndication), but it was purchased for a rumored more than 3 times what USA paid for each original NCIS episode.
While the risk and reward of the NCIS: LA purchase is yet to be seen and can’t be assessed for a couple years, it is clear that USA Network has had great success with risks taken in the past. Many of the highly successful USA Original Series were passed on by many networks before coming to a home at USA. USA’s “Characters” branding has also made for a large fan base of these quirky and interesting shows, all of which fit in well into the network’s theme. NCIS, though an acquired series, has also found a large viewing audience in USA’s line-up and is another risk that has paid off for the Network.
If USA Network continues to maintain the balance between strong original series and popular acquired series, which can draw a wider audience base to the cable network, then shows such as NCIS will continue to be beneficial to USA Network and its original series.
~Sara
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