NCIS Renewed for Season 17, Officially Becoming the Show that Will Outlive Us All

NCIS is officially coming back for another round of investigations. CBS announced Thursday that the long-running procedural has been renewed for Season 17.

Described as a "global juggernaut" by CBS boss Kelly Kahl, NCIS pulls in an average of 16 million viewers per episode, when you include a week of delayed viewing numbers. That's still very impressive, and second only to The Big Bang Theory when it comes to broadcast ratings. The Season 17 pick-up makes it the second-longest running drama on broadcast after Law & Order: SVU.

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Season 17 will keep series star and executive producer Mark Harmon front and center, as the renewal comes just as he renewed his contract to stay with the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In 2017, Harmon was the highest paid broadcast drama actor, making $525,000 an episode. When you calculate how much he could be making now with a standard 22-episode season, your brain begins to melt (and then remember the cast of the Big Bang Theory makes almost twice as much).

NCIS has been the most watched broadcast drama eight of the nine past TV seasons, so did you really think this was coming to an end?

NCIS continues Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation.)