As the list of 2024 TV cancelations continues to grow, NCIS: Hawai’i’s untimely end continues to stand out. The CBS procedural got the axe after just three seasons, and its star Vanessa Lachey said she was blindsided by it. Now fans are putting in the effort to try to save the show, and much of the cast is on board with it as well. Jason Antoon, meanwhile, is trolling the network he once called home.
Antoon, who played cyber intelligence specialist Ernie Malik, has been quite vocal about Hawai’i’s cancellation on social media. Last month, CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach addressed the cancellation at a press briefing. Via Variety, she said that the network has to “evaluate the financials and the performance overall.” However, it has since come out that Hawai’i was actually in the top 20 for the 2023-24 season. Antoon teasingly shared Variety’s post about the reveal on X (formerly known as Twitter) to make sure that his followers saw what he saw:
I’ll just leave this here in case no one saw it yesterday 😜 . #NCISHawaii https://t.co/yUmeOgQe9SMay 30, 2024
Money and performance are definitely big reasons to cancel a show, especially if both of those aren’t as good as they should be. With the spinoff filming in, of course, Hawaii, that probably didn’t help costs, despite fellow CBS Hawaii-set show Hawaii Five-0 — which ended in 2020 after 10 seasons — also filming on the island. It was also reported that Hawai’i was reportedly going to take a big pay cut if a fourth season happened.
Regardless of costs, all eyes seem to be on the show’s performance, as it ranked No. 16 for the season, and Antoon was not afraid to point that out following Reisenbach’s comments.
The cast was seemingly unaware that CBS would cancel NCIS: Hawai’i, making the ending all the more surprising. Plus, fans have been passionate about trying to save the show since the news broke. It is entertaining to see stars like Antoon getting in on the mocking and trolling, though, and it is for a good reason. He’s showing that a show like NCIS: Hawai’i should not have been canceled, and even though it’s unknown if it will ever be saved, that isn’t stopping people from speaking out about it.
Another reason why Hawai’i needs to come back is because it ended on a cliffhanger and it was brutal. After all was said and done with the case and it seemed like Hawai’i would end on a good note, Jane got back home and found none other than Maggie Shaw waiting for her with some news she had to share. Unfortunately, the episode cut off right before we heard what she had to say, and now we will never know what was in store or why Maggie was back.
Knowing how well NCIS: Hawai’i truly did makes the cancelation all the more heartbreaking. It doesn’t seem like the fans or the cast are slowing down any time soon when it comes to trying to save the show and get more eyes on it, even if it means trolling CBS. At least Paramount+ subscribers are able to watch all three seasons, which could definitely help the show get another season.