NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Bad News For One NCIS Spinoff

NCIS: Tony & Ziva has debuted with a great Rotten Tomatoes score. However, this means bad news for one NCIS spinoff in particular. The Tony & Ziva spinoff has released three episodes so far, with another one releasing weekly until the season finale in October. Its Rotten Tomatoes score debut looks great so far, but it carries some consequences too.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva is the latest NCIS spinoff, and it is also the only show to focus on a pairing rather than a classic NCIS team. With all the changes that have come with the spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva‘s debut score of 73% is surprisingly good. However, it also means it has bumped NCIS: Origins from the lead.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva Has The Highest Rotten Tomatoes Score Of All NCIS Spinoffs

CBS

After just three episodes, NCIS: Tony & Ziva has achieved a score of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the score on its own is not groundbreaking or particularly impressive for a new release, it does hold significance for the NCIS franchise. Of all NCIS spinoffs, NCIS: Tony & Ziva holds the highest score.

Previously, NCIS: Origins held the highest Rotten Tomatoes score with a rating of 72%. However, NCIS: Origins achieved this score over the course of a full season. NCIS: Tony & Ziva only needed 3 episodes to beat it. This is bad news for NCIS: Origins, which had previously been regarded as the most popular NCIS spinoff.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s Score Proves Nostalgia Beats New Stories

Even though NCIS: Origins remains popular, NCIS: Tony & Ziva‘s higher score proves that shows in the NCIS universe that are centered on iconic characters are more popular than shows centered on new stories and characters. This explains why NCIS: Origins still has a relatively high Rotten Tomatoes score. It also explains why NCIS: Tony & Ziva beat it easily.

NCIS is such a long-running franchise that it is packed with nostalgia. That is why NCIS: Origins remains one of the more popular NCIS spinoffs since it is a prequel based on Gibbs’ beginnings. However, NCIS: Tony & Ziva have something even better: the original actors to play the roles and expand on the aftermath of their stories in NCIS.

Most NCIS spinoffs feature characters that are entirely new to the franchise. This helps explain why so many spinoffs have struggled in comparison to NCIS. But NCIS: Tony & Ziva‘s debut is impressive because it signals a change. The spinoff is leaning heavily on nostalgia, rather than exclusively creating new stories, and it is clearly working.