Why Tony & Ziva’s NCIS Spinoff Won’t Be On CBS Explained By Paramount+ Boss

Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David’s NCIS spinoff won’t be airing on CBS and a Paramount+ executive explains why. On the heels of Michael Weatherly’s NCIS season 21 return for Ducky Mallard’s tribute, it was eventually announced that he will return full-time to the franchise. However, instead of reclaiming his old post in Washington DC, Tony and Ziva will spearhead a new NCIS expansion series that will take place in Europe. Nicknamed NCIS: Europe, the show will not join the rest of the universe on CBS, however, despite also existing in the same reality.

Discussing the matter with Vulture, George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer for news and sports at Paramount+, reveals the logic behind Tony and Ziva’s NCIS spinoff streaming on Paramount+ instead of being on network TV. This will mark the first spinoff from the famed franchise to not be on CBS. For context, even Mark Harmon’s NCIS: Origins starring Austin Stowell as young Gibbs will be on primetime. Read his full quote below:

Well, we also announced NCIS: Origins, which is going to be on CBS. The Weatherly project really felt more like a serialized streaming show, and also was an example of us trying to expand the aperture of NCIS, which is what we did with Criminal Minds on Paramount+. The whole goal here is to look at each potential creative execution and figure out where we think it ultimately should land. We had two really fantastic NCIS franchise extension ideas. One felt really right for broadcast, being more procedural, and one felt like a serialized streaming 10 or 13-episode idea. So when you’re trying to consistently expand what is the number one TV franchise in the world, why wouldn’t you want to develop both, and why not take advantage of the fact that one may creatively skew more towards a streaming environment versus the other?

What Being On Paramount+ Means For Tony And Ziva’s NCIS Spinoff

As Cheeks, there are immediate differences between being on streaming and on traditional broadcast. Tony and Ziva’s NCIS spinoff will be a more serialized show, which means that a whole season will be devoted to one case. This has been the new format for Criminal Minds: Evolution — a change that was inevitable when it transitioned from being on CBS to the streaming platform. Admittedly, the reduced number of episodes takes some getting used to, but there are actual advantages to this longer form of storytelling.

The biggest benefit to Paramount+’s format for shows like Criminal Minds: Evolution and the upcoming NCIS spinoff is that it allows for a deeper exploration of its narrative. Unlike usual police procedurals where there is a weekly case that is usually solved at the end of the hour, being on streaming means that writers can spend 10–13 episodes on a single narrative. This gives them more time to set up the mystery and properly resolve it at the end of the season. This also leaves room for more and better subplots.

Another advantage to being on Paramount+ for Tony and Ziva’s NCIS spinoff is that it can be darker than its CBS counterparts. Criminal Minds: Evolution is once again a perfect example of this, with season 1 being gorier than its usual network TV fare. Considering Ziva’s Mossad training and Tony’s detective skills, their NCIS offshoot can pit them against more dangerous villains and the series can fully highlight just how big of a threat they are.