NCIS Dominates Most-Watched Telecasts of 2021 While The Oscars Fail Breach Top 100

Published: January 3, 2022

NCIS Dominates Most-Watched Telecasts of 2021 While The Oscars Fail Breach Top 100

By Movieguide® Staff

The final tallies for the top 100 telecasts of 2021 are in, and CBS’s NCIS dominated as one of the most-watched primetime telecasts behind NFL football.

The numbers also prove that Movieguide®’s theory that moral, patriotic TV performs better than politically correct and agenda-driven segments. Although the Academy Awards often finds itself in the top 10 most-watched telecasts, in 2021, the award show failed to make the top 100.

Variety reported:

This year’s plunge to 10.7 million viewers puts it way down on the full list. Besides sports, that means more people watched 21 different episodes of “NCIS,” nine episodes of “FBI,” seven episodes of “60 Minutes,” five episodes of “Yellowstone, “four episodes of “The Equalizer” and one episode each of “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime “than watched the Oscars.

As the Oscars continue to pander to audiences under the guise of inclusiveness, the numbers show they end up losing viewers who want moral values championed.

However, NCIS’s moral, patriotic, and often pro-family themes propelled multiple episodes in the long-running series to the top 100 list.

Variety reported:

Among scripted fare, while other shows come and go (like the once-dominant “The Walking Dead”), “NCIS” continues to dominate, this year with 17 slots. followed by “FBI” (seven) and newcomer “The Equalizer” (four), all on CBS. Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone” was the only cable entertainment show to make the cut this year, with two episodes. “60 Minutes” landed a healthy five positions, while comedy and reality shows didn’t make it into the top 100 at all this year.

NCIS’ strong showing led CBS to earn the No. 1 channel spot for viewership in the 2021-2022 broadcast season with 166 million total minutes viewed.

“While ‘time spent’ has mainly been a streamers’ metric, it actually demonstrates the continuing strength and scale of broadcast television, and CBS in particular,” George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS and Chief Content Officer, News, and Sports, Paramount+, said. “Additionally, all this content is available on Paramount+ too, both live and on demand.”

Kelly Kahl, President of CBS Entertainment, added: “No matter how you analyze the numbers – time spent, live +7, live +3 or live – CBS’ primetime schedule and our highly successful new series are resonating loudly with viewers.”

Read More: NCIS’s More Liberal Spinoff, NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, To End After Season 7 On CBS

Movieguide® previously reported:

Content that continually puts biblical values on display flourishes.

One example is the success of the longtime patriotic and morally uplifting NCIS series. The CBS television show led primetime television ratings, breaking the norm of springtime television.

In contrast to the 2021 Oscars, NCIS boasted 10.26 million viewers for CBS, almost tying their previous same-day record of 10.35 million for the season premiere.

While both battled for interested viewers during the COVID-19 pandemic, NCIS’ patriotic focus ousted the Oscars – whose increasingly blatant political agenda has gradually alienated viewers over the past seven years.