Month: October 2025

Is the same NCIS audience tuning in for this spin-off? 
Yes. We’re seeing a viewership that leans toward women (56%) and is mostly aged 35+ (90%)–a nearly spot-on match for the other NCIS-branded series, even though they aired on broadcast and Tony & Ziva is native to streaming. This new show is also helping to attract more women to Paramount+, as many of the platform’s other recent releases (MobLand, Landman, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, 1923) have appealed much more strongly to men.

How important is the franchise connection? 
Extremely. Tony & Ziva’s link to the original NCIS is its #1 viewership driver and overall ratings propeller (IP Extension, 150)–a fact it actually shares with its predecessor, itself a spin-off of 90s drama JAG (NCIS: IP Extension, 160). Similarly, the fact that the new show brings back two long-departed fan-favorite NCIS characters–they’re together again onscreen for the first time in twelve years (Reunion, 122)–is stoking fan fervor, with their electric On Again, Off Again Relationship (125) taking center stage in a way it never could on the main series. The pair’s continuing love story is contributing to Tony & Ziva’s bingeability, longevity, and social buzz.

Does Tony & Ziva rely on the same elements that have made NCIS so successful?
No. The D.C.-set NCIS as well as its prior spin-offs (Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawaii, Sydney, and Origins) are case-of-the-week Police Procedurals (160), each following a series of episode-long Criminal Investigations (130) driven by a US Federal Agency (122) and peppered by the Workplace Dynamics (116) of its staff. While this formula has proven to be episodic gold, propelling the original series through twenty-three seasons and counting, the new Tony & Ziva is branching out into less familiar territory, leaning heavily into serialized storytelling and landing closer to an international spy thriller.

What’s making Tony & Ziva stand out as unique? 
Character drama and sustained suspense. While the original NCIS hinted at Tony and Ziva’s personal lives and peppered in a few reveals, their new namesake show delves much deeper into their complicated Family Life (145) as Protective Parents (146) to a 12-year-old daughter and clashing exes who still feel a spark. The series amps up the tension–both personal and professional–by sending them on the run together across Europe with their Lives in Danger (127) as mysterious foes both set them up and try to take them down (Being Hunted, 135). The thrill of watching them Search for the Truth (130) in a Race Against Time (130) to clear their names and save their child is helping to drive ratings and bingeability, while their unusual family dynamic offers great promise for future seasons.

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Who’s been adding this dark thriller to their queue? 
We’re seeing an audience that skews toward men (54%) and those 35+ (78%), but not too different from the gender-balanced viewership of Ozark (50% men / 50% women), also starring Jason Bateman. Other Netflix-based action-laced crime dramas like Narcos and Peaky Blinders tended to bring in even more men.

What’s the show’s main pull? 
The brothers. The show follows ambitious, slimy restaurateur Jake and his seedy gambling-addict brother Vince, and their fraught, dysfunctional Sibling Relationship (160) is Black Rabbit’s #1 overall viewership driver. The pair have a long history of codependency, resentment, and trauma (Family Dysfunction, 121), and their current dynamic–a reignition of greed, anger, and Sibling Rivalry (115) after a long period of estrangement–sets up such an arresting trainwreck that viewers can’t look away. At the same time, and even in spite of mutual Betrayals (118), the pair’s loyalty runs bone-deep, with Jake risking his own neck and club to save Vince from past bad decisions. These multiple layers of complexity make for a compelling central relationship.

What’s making the show so addictive?
Suspense and tension. When Vince rolls back into town, on the run yet again from another deal gone bad, he’s suddenly faced with repaying a substantial debt to a dangerous loan shark who’s extremely eager to collect. With the loan shark’s enforcers threatening their livelihoods and loved ones (Near Death Experience, 115), the brothers must figure out how to get the money without getting anyone killed (High Stakes, 120; Under Threat, 114) or losing ownership of Jake’s top-tier restaurant. The series goes to some very bleak, pitch-black places (Dark Themes, 125) as it follows the pair’s chaotic decision-making, and it’s this overarching sense of stress and darkness that’s keeping viewers tuned in to see what happens next.

What could earn the show another season? 
The bookies. If Netflix and the showrunners change their minds about stopping at one season, there’s more juice to be squeezed from the unique and compelling Criminal Organization (135) that’s introduced in the show. Head boss Mancuso, his brutal henchmen, his keen-to-prove-himself son, and their wider criminal network are collectively Black Rabbit’s top driver for longevity, and the ins and outs of their sordid business offer plenty of opportunities for future storylines. Audiences will want to return for more of the same dark overtones and tense-filled emotions (Aggressiveness, 125; Contempt, 121; Disapproval, 113) that they ate up in season one.

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