CBS Slots In 'NCIS: Sydney' As Third Paramount+ Original On Fall Schedule
The Australian extension of the 'NCIS' franchise follows the mothership on Mondays at 10 PM
With studios refusing to meet with their actors and writers, CBS has resorted to importing Kiwis to fill that last hole in its fall schedule. NCIS: Sydney, the Paramount+ Australia original that serves as the first international iteration of the long-running NCIS franchise, will air on Mondays at 10 PM starting November 13. Its domestic premiere will have been three days before on November 10.
When CBS first announced the strike-caused overhaul of its fall schedule in July, it featured three Paramount+ originals, the first two announced immediately and both were domestic: FBI True on Tuesdays at 9 PM, later pegged to begin October 3, and SEAL Team on Thursdays at 10 PM, later pegged to begin November 2. A third Paramount+ series in that 10 PM Monday slot had been pegged as well, but had no hints. Even as stunts such as the special Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airing for Star Trek Day and the first two episodes of Frasier five days after they premiere were installed, biding time briefly for those timeslots, the identity still hadn't been revealed until now. The slot is normally held by NCIS Hawai'i for the two seasons it's been on the air and awaits its return, as it was originally scheduled there at Upfronts in week 3 of the strike in May. The flagship NCIS series will air reruns in the 9 PM hour preceding Sydney as it too awaits for production to resume for its 21st season.
The series logline states “Filmed against the spectacular backdrop of one of the world’s most breathtaking harbour cities, NCIS: Sydney... sees rising international tensions in the Indo-Pacific. The brilliant and eclectic team of U.S. NCIS Agents and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are grafted into a multi-national taskforce, to keep naval crimes in check, in the most contested patch of ocean on the planet.”
NCIS: Sydney stars Legends of Tomorrow's Olivia Swann as NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey. She is joined by co-lead Todd Lasance as Sergeant Jim “JD” Dempsey, as well as Sean Sagar as NCIS Special Agent DeShawn Jackson, Tuuli Narkle as AFP Liaison Officer Constable Evie Cooper; Shantaram's Mavournee Hazel as AFP Forensic Scientist Bluebird "Blue" Gleeson and William McInnes as AFP Forensic Pathologist Dr. Roy Penrose. Morgan O’Neill created the series and executive produces with Sara Richardson and Sue Seeary.
It joins the British version of Ghosts as the imports on the lineup that also includes the broadcast TV premiere of Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, the aforementioned Paramount+ borrows FBI True and SEAL Team, new super-sized episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race, as well as new game shows Buddy Games, Lotería Loca and Raid the Cage.
