#CBS Postpones Production on NCIS, SEAL Team, and More Amid L.A. COVID Case Surge

CBS is pushing back production restart dates on several of its series.

The news comes amid soaring COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County.

Production on NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and SEAL Team, all broadcast by CBS, as well as CBS All Access’ Why Women Kill and Disney ‘s Diary of a Future President had been scheduled to return to production on Jan. 4 after their holiday break.

All five shows will now resume on Jan. 11, a week later than planned, but it’s possible that these delays could be extended for weeks or longer.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recently urged TV and film productions to consider pausing work due to the rise in cases, which has strained hospital capacities.

A regional stay-at-home order for Southern California was extended through Jan. 16 on Tuesday.

Many TV shows were brought to a grinding halt earlier this year due to COVID-19, which saw production shelved for months, and the networks struggling to find original scripted programming.

NCIS, Los Angeles, and SEAL Team, in particular, started their seasons much later than planned and didn’t get the chance to end their previous ones.

“Although music, TV and film productions are allowed to operate, we ask you to strongly consider pausing work for a few weeks during this catastrophic surge in Covid cases,” the health department said in the letter, sent to the department’s industry contacts December 24 and made public by FilmLA Dec. 28.

“Identify and delay higher risk activities, and focus on lower-risk work for now, if at all possible.”

Safety is paramount, so it’s probably a good idea to delay these productions for some time until L.A. is safer.

CBS has yet to announce whether the delay will affect already scheduled episodes.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.