Last born, first torn.
“NCIS: New Orleans,” the long-running procedural drama starring Scott Bakula, has been canceled by CBS, Deadline reported Wednesday.
Spun off from the wildly popular series “NCIS” and the baby brother of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” the series will conclude its seven-season run with a May 16 finale.
“It has been our sincere pleasure and honor to work on this show and with this incredible cast and crew for over 150 episodes,” noted executive producers Christopher Silber and Jan Nash on Wednesday. “As disappointed as we are to see (‘New Orleans’) end, we couldn’t be prouder of the work we’ve done and are grateful to the spectacular and resilient Crescent City that embraced us for seven wonderful years.”
The series starred Bakula as Special Agent Dwayne Pride, who is stationed at the New Orleans branch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, an intelligence agency that investigates crimes within the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Despite ranking in the Nielsen top 25 during its first six seasons, the series has been shedding at least 1 million viewers with each succeeding season, according to data.
“NCIS: New Orleans” which premiered in 2014, averaged a whopping 17.4 million spectators per episode during its first season en route to finishing No. 4 to end the season.
But by 2020, the series had dipped to No. 22, while generating about 9.5 million weekly viewers.
“Sad to end our love affair with this phenomenal city but so grateful for all the friends we made along the way,” said Bakula on Wednesday. “I will miss the music. Big thank you to CBS for seven years.”
“NCIS,” starring Mark Harmon, has been a ratings juggernaut for CBS during its 18-year run, finishing as the Nielsen No. 1 series in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and has ranked in the top five another eight times.
While “NCIS” and “NCIS: Los Angeles” will return next season, CBS announced on Wednesday that it had also canceled the Allison Janney comedy series “Mom” after eight seasons.