Michael Weatherly has voiced his gratitude after fans of the NCIS spin-off, Tony & Ziva, launched a creative campaign to save the show. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the actor, who portrayed Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, re-shared photos of a 24-hour billboard that was installed on 1619 Broadway in New York City. Designed to light up on the 46th minute of every hour on December 30, the board featured a QR code that led to a 'Save Tony & Ziva' information page.
Left emotional by the campaign, Michael, 57, wrote: "I want to just say how much this made me smile and maybe even nudged my tear ducts… beautiful, and I want to say a GIGANTIC thank you to any and all involved. I see you. I appreciate you. Big kiss for 2026."
Tony & Ziva, which premiered in September 2025, saw Michael and his NCIS co-star, Cote de Pablo, reprising their roles from the flagship series. A series which quickly acquired a loyal fanbase, and garnered critical acclaim, season one was awarded a Certified Fresh score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Among the reviews, the Los Angeles Times commended Weatherly and de Pablo on their "genuine chemistry," while Variety remarked that the series "delivers the goods so deftly that Tiva fans will have no problem saying 'better late than never,' with conviction."
Why was Tony & Ziva cancelled if it was a hit with critics and fans?
In December, Michael and Cote released a joint statement, telling fans that Tony & Ziva had been cancelled. "We feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to play these characters once again and to tell the next chapter of Tony and Ziva's story," they said.
"Our deepest thanks go to our extraordinary cast, crew, writers, directors, and producers, and to our partners at CBS Studios and Paramount+ who helped make this dream a reality. But most of all, we want to thank the fans around the world who joined us on this adventure and finally got to see Tony and Ziva find their happily ever after."
Understandably, the decision to scrap the series came as a major surprise, especially with Paramount+ yet to offer an explanation on the matter. Critically speaking, Tony & Ziva performed well, and in regards to viewership, when the series debuted with a three-episode premiere, it made headlines by bagging the number two spot on the platform's TV charts in the US and the UK. As the series progressed, however, viewership began to decline, with Tony & Ziva falling lower and lower in the charts as the story played out across 10 episodes.
Considering the gradual decline, Paramount+'s decision to cancel Tony & Ziva could have been impacted by this trend, which suggests that the spin-off may have become a potential financial risk. Given that Tony & Ziva, which is CBS's sixth NCIS spin-off, was the first to be launched exclusively on a streaming platform, however, the show may have also acted as an experiment for Paramount+, with subscription figures indicating whether or not this format could support a serialised show with a pre-established fanbase.
Paramount has been hit with cuts
While details surrounding the cancellation of Tony & Ziva remain limited, it is widely known that Paramount Studios has been hit with major layoffs in recent months, following the company's merger with Skydance. Among them, Paramount+ executive vice president of programming Jeff Grossman was forced to step down, and in October 2025, The New York Times reported that around 2,000 employees in total are expected to lose their jobs.
With so much change in the pipelines at Paramount, the success of Tony & Ziva may have been too inconsequential for the company to consider green lighting a second, expensive production.