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‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Star Scott Bakula Shocked By Franchise Success: ‘They Are The Energizer Bunny’

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 20:07 PST, May 8, 2016

Scott Bakula, the team leader in NCIS: New Orleans, has been shocked and “astonished” by the franchise’s success. He says the original show is “the Energizer Bunny,” and shows no sign of stopping.

Bakula stars as Special Agent Dwayne Pride on the New Orleans spinoff. It is the youngest of the franchise of a show he believes should have ended years ago. He doesn’t understand how the show is still going, and thinks anyone who says they understand is lying.

“But they [the original NCIS show] are the Energizer bunny and they just keep going and going. They’ve been renewed again for two more years, which will be their 14th and 15th seasons. I can’t imagine that. But I applaud them. I don’t understand it!”

The only franchise to last longer is the CSI franchise, and it looks like that will come to an end this year. There is no confirmation that CSI: Cyber will be renewed for Season 3, despite international sales keeping it going. The American viewers are just not that interested in the franchise anymore, and that showed a few years ago as CSI: Miami and CSI: New York ended.

That has not been the case with the NCIS franchise. The original may be coming to its Season 13 finale, but it has been renewed for two more years. That is despite Michael Weatherly leaving the show at the end of the year for CBS pilot Bull. The franchise remains the most popular in the United States, and international viewing and DVR viewing is also high.

Bakula says that it is amazing that the original series has aired its 300th episode, and is still going strong. Just the ratings from after the Christmas hiatus shocked him, in a good way. The January 4 episode saw NCIS: New Orleans bring in 17 million viewers, and that was before DVR figures were considered, according to Digital Spy.

There doesn’t seem to be any sense in why the franchise is so popular. NCIS: L.A and NCIS: New Orleans run back to back, but except for their name they are two different shows. The two shows have different feelings, but they work together seamlessly when they need to.

One thing that may have kept the NCIS franchise alive is the fact that the shows continually crossover into each other. It was not just a way to introduce the new team, in the way that CSI opted for crossovers. Bakula has gone into the original, and Mark Harmon has come down to New Orleans for cases.

“By all rights, people should be tired of procedurals and they should be tired of that show. But they have got some magic model and they just keep going – and it’s astounding.”

All three of the shows have received the go ahead for at least one more season, with the original getting two seasons in the renewal. They were announced as some of the first shows to get the greenlight, and many people expected them to get their seasons due to the ratings.

NCIS: Los Angeles is definitely getting a Season 8, but there is currently no confirmation when the premiere will air. This is unsurprising considering the time of year. There are still plenty of shows still to air their season finales, including parent show NCIS, which still has to air its episode featuring Weatherly’s departure.

New Orleans is still to air its season finale, where the lead up episodes will star Ivan Sergei, who plays Homeland agent John Russo. The finale will air on Tuesday May 17, along with its parent show. The finale will involve the team working with Homeland security again, as they search for 900lbs of missing explosives.

The franchise is still going strong and there is no sign of it stopping. Considering how other franchises have died down or struggled to get started—Criminal Minds is still struggling to get a spinoff going strong—it is surprising and Bakula cannot help but feel the shows should have ended a long time ago but is happy the NCIS: New Orleans and franchise fans have kept them going.

[Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]

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