{"id":3080,"date":"2025-07-07T15:33:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2025-07-07T15:33:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:33:59","slug":"why-ncis-your-other-favorite-network-police-procedurals-barely-have-fourth-of-july-themed-episodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=3080","title":{"rendered":"Why NCIS & Your Other Favorite Network Police Procedurals Barely Have Fourth Of July-Themed Episodes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Network TV series (e.g., NCIS, Bones, The Rookie, etc.) often produce specials revolving around specific holidays, but that holiday is very rarely the Fourth of July. Consequently, fans can\u2019t celebrate Independence Day by watching themed episodes of their favorite shows. Instead, they\u2019ll have to turn on movies such as Captain America: The First Avenger, Independence Day, Hamilton, and so on.<\/p>\n

Plenty of reasons contribute to the lack of Fourth of July-themed specials on TV, especially when it comes to police procedural series. On the flip side, those same shows release episodes featuring the characters celebrating other holidays, like Christmas. So, why not the Fourth of July?<\/p>\n

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NCIS & Other Prominent Police Procedurals Barely Have July 4th-Themed Episodes
\nHolidays Like Halloween & Christmas Are More Prominent<\/h3>\n

Fourth of July specials are almost nonexistent compared to Christmas, Halloween, or Thanksgiving ones. All the prominent police procedural TV shows (NCIS, Chicago PD, Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, The Rookie, Criminal Minds, Bones, etc.) don\u2019t have episodes celebrating the summer holiday. The only one that comes close is NCIS season 10, episode 9, \u201cDevil\u2019s Trifecta,\u201d and it doesn\u2019t even take place on Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cDevil\u2019s Trifecta\u201d is famous for Tobias Fornell\u2019s quote \u2014 \u201cHoly Fourth of July Weenie Roast, what the hell am I looking at?\u201d Diane Sterling later referenced the same line in season 12. Essentially, the best that cop TV series can do is reference the holiday in a funny quote. In fact, there aren\u2019t many shows in general that celebrate Independence Day.<\/p>\n

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However, The Pitt season 2 will reportedly take place over the course of the Fourth of July weekend. It might not be a police procedural, but it\u2019s still a procedural. So, since The Pitt season 2 is scheduled to premiere in January 2026, those who want to spend Independence Day watching patriotic-themed episodes can do so next year with the acclaimed HBO Max drama.<\/p>\n

July 4th\u2019s Timing Makes It Difficult To Do Themed Episodes For Network TV Shows
\nMost Series Are On Hiatus<\/h3>\n

The biggest reason why police procedural network shows like NCIS (although it has 22 seasons) don\u2019t have any Fourth of July specials is that they are typically on hiatus in the summer. Broadcast TV series usually end their respective seasons in the spring (April or May). Then, they take a few months off before returning in the fall (September or October).<\/p>\n

If the TV shows are taking their breaks in the summer, then that means Fourth of July-themed episodes are irrelevant.<\/p>\n

In most cases, holiday specials air around the same time as said holiday. Christmas episodes come around in December, while Halloween ones premiere in October. If the TV shows are taking their breaks in the summer, then that means Fourth of July-themed episodes are irrelevant. As a result, NCIS (among others) doesn\u2019t have a specific Independence Day episode.<\/p>\n

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Network TV series (e.g., NCIS, Bones, The Rookie, etc.) often produce specials revolving around specific holidays, but that holiday is very rarely the Fourth of July. Consequently,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3082,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080\/revisions\/3082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}