CBS shockingly canceled NCIS: Hawaii after three seasons, with space being part of the reasoning. Well, there was certainly space in the schedule!
If there is one CBS cancellation that we were not okay with, it was the NCIS: Hawaii cancellation. The show looked set for a renewal, especially looking at the linear ratings. Yet it was shockingly canceled.
This was a shock to the show, as well. That was clear with the way the Season 3 finale ending, but it was also clear from the statements from the cast. Everyone expected the show to be renewed for at least a shortened season, airing in the spring.
One of the reasons it wasn’t is due to lack of scheduling space. However, the decision to put NCIS: Sydney on in the spring makes it clear that there was space for it after all.
NCIS: Sydney wasn’t supposed to be a linear series
When the NCIS spin-off set in Australia was originally planned, it wasn’t going to be a CBS series. It was planned for Paramount+, but things changed due to the strike action in the summer. CBS needed as much new content as it could get, and it turned to streaming shows for that.
We got episodes of FBI True, SEAL Team, and the new NCIS: Sydney to take up space in the empty schedule. However, it always seemed like the plan was going to be to move everything back to streaming when the regular schedule was able to happen.
While FBI True and SEAL Team have remained on streaming, CBS has opted to bring fans NCIS: Sydney Season 2. It’s in a slot that could have been taken by NCIS: Hawaii in the spring.
NCIS: Hawaii fans deserve closure
The way NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 ended made it clear that there was more planned. CBS could have opted to give the series a spring premiere, shortening the season to 10 or 13 episodes with a finale in May. This is what a lot of people expected as well. The idea of saying there wasn’t the space and giving the slot to a show that was supposed to be a streaming show doesn’t make a lot of sense.
It’s not like Sydney had better linear ratings than Hawaii either. If it did, then the decision would have made more sense from a business point of view. As it stands, Hawaii was the stronger series linearly. Fans deserve closure to see what the storyline with Maggie was going to be. Although the finale could have worked had that last scene been removed.