NCIS

The final pre-strike episode of NCIS aired last week, and the number of viewers it drew, though respectable, saw a significant drop from its last new installment, which hit the airwaves on November 27.

According to TV Guide, NCIS' January 15 broadcast, which was an episode entitled “Tribes,” drew in 15.9 million viewers, down 1.16 million from the November broadcast called “Corporal Punishment.”  The numbers drop is due to the two-hour premiere of American Idol's seventh season, which earned FOX 33.24 million total viewers and a 13.78 rating in key demographics.

Other shows slaughtered by the Idol premiere were NBC's The Biggest Loser, CBS' Comanche Moon, and the CW's One Tree Hill.

NCIS' “Tribes” was the eleventh episode of the show's current season, which, like many other television shows, was forcibly shortened due to the ongoing WGA strike.  The episode followed the NCIS team – led by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) – as they investigated the death of a young Muslim marine.  With Ducky (David McCallum) refusing to perform an autopsy due to the victim's family's beliefs, the team had to talk to the father of the deceased.  They sent McGee (Sean Murray) to plant a bug in the Mosque, and discovered that the FBI had already done so.

Fans of NCIS will have to wait until the strike is resolved to catch new episodes of the show, as production has shut down due to the shortage of scripts.  Not all of the cast and crew are out of work, however, with Harmon starting work on a big screen project called The Weather Girl.  In the film, Harmon plays a television show host who cheats on his girlfriend, who happens to be a weather girl.

Meanwhile, another show star, Pauley Perrette, is working on an upcoming horror film called Satan Hates You, in which she stars as Marie Flowers.  According to IMDB, the film, written and directed by James Felix McKenney (The Off Season, CanniBallistic!), is slated for release in December.


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Guide, IMDB
(Image Courtesy of CBS)