CBS’ ‘FBI’ Crossover Event Breaks Ratings Record

CBS scored a record Tuesday night with its three-show FBI crossover event. All three FBI teams were involved in a single story that began in a special FBI: International episode. “Imminent Threat” saw the teams investigating an international terror plot that took viewers from Rome to New York City.

The three-hour special averaged 6.19 million viewers over the night, earning CBS the largest Tuesday audience of the season, reports Deadline. FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted also saw their largest streaming audiences of the season. All three shows are available on Paramount+ and CBS streaming platforms.

FBI: International averaged 6.3 million viewers, per early Nielsen data. That was the show’s largest-ever early Nielsen audience ever, up 14% over the season average. The FBI hour was the most-watched of the three, reeling in 6.4 million viewers. FBI: Most Wanted drew 5.89 million viewers, the largest fast national audience for the show in over a year. Most Wanted was also up 21% over its season average.

“Imminent Threat” began with an American architect’s abduction in Rome, an incident that appears to be connected to a threat in New York. Jubal (Jeremy Sisto) and Nina (Shantel VanSanten) of FBI flew to Italy to meet members of the International team to investigate. Remy (Dylan McDermott) of the Most Wanted team joined the case in the second hour, as Maggie (Missy Peregrym) hoped his connections could help. The team thought the terrorists were targeting the U.S. president, but they later learned that they had an even bigger target in mind, JFK International Airport.

This was the first crossover to feature McDermott, who joined Most Wanted in Season 3. He was cast on the project right after he finished his story arc on Law & Order: Organized Crime, which is also executive produced by Dick Wolf. Like OC‘s Richard Wheatley, his Most Wanted character Remy has become a fan-favorite.

“Remy is such a great character to play. He is one of those characters that I’m so infused with,” McDermott told Deadline. “Every time I play him, which is every single day, there’s something about him that I get lost in and I like that. That’s this Dick Wolf world that’s allowed me to get lost in these characters, much like Ryan Murphy. They allow me to be me. It was the same playing Richard Wheatley [in Law & Order: Organized Crime], I got lost in him, too.”

New episodes of all three FBI shows air on April 11, beginning with FBI back in its usual 8 p.m. ET timeslot on CBS. All three have been renewed for the 2023-2024 season. They are streaming on Paramount+.