Ratings: How Many Watched Michael Weatherly & Mark Harmon’s ‘NCIS’ & ‘Origins’ Returns?

Nearly a quarter of a century in, and NCIS remains a hit.

The franchise returned on Tuesday, October 6, with back-to-back-to-back premieres of NCIS (Season 24), New York (Season 1), and Origins (Season 3), and the night was a ratings success. The mothership brought back Michael Weatherly, with an episode-ending twist making Tony DiNozzo the new agency director. The newest spinoff brings LA‘s LL COOL J back as Sam Hanna, this time in the Big Apple working alongside Scott Caan and his team. And the prequel has Mark Harmon in every episode in a present-day storyline that connects back to the ’90s and takes Gibbs out of Alaska (after he’s shot!) and on the path to some intriguing reunions.

All in all, CBS’ Tuesday night lineup, as part of its premiere week, delivered a #1 broadcast finish averaging 5.49 million viewers, which is up 39% from the night’s lineup last year of NCIS, NCIS: Origins, and NCIS: Sydney. (Sydney will be back in the midseason, after Origins‘ 10-episode run wraps.)

NCIS, NCIS: New York, and NCIS: Origins were October 6’s top three most-watched scripted broadcast shows.

NCIS was the night’s #1 most-watched scripted broadcast program. It was watched by an average of 6.45 million viewers. It was also the show’s most-watched episode since the Season 21 finale on May 6, 2024; that was the episode that saw Knight (Katrina Law) presented with a job offer that would take her away from the team (briefly) and her and Parker (Gary Cole) trapped below deck in a ship rigged to explode. The 24th season premiere was also up 21% compared to the 23rd and up 20% from its year-ago season average.

NCIS: New York debuted as the night’s #2 most-watched scripted broadcast program with an average of 5.62m viewers. That’s a 53% gain on the Origins Season 2 premiere and 50% gain from the prequel’s year-ago season average.

The prequel, in its new time slot one hour later, was the #1 broadcast show in its time period, with an average of 4.39m viewers, up 20% from its year-ago premiere in the 9/8c slot and up 56% compared to Sydney‘s premiere in the 10/9c hour last year.