In case you somehow missed it, the 1,000th episode of the NCISverse is upcoming.

That will be NCIS Season 21 Episode 7, airing on CBS at 9 p.m. Monday, April 15.

The event was heralded by an Entertainment Tonight special hosted by Kevin Frazier, which aired April 8 on CBS. It's likely still available on streaming service Paramount+.

NCIS has been on 21 seasons, NCIS: Los Angeles lasted 14 seasons, and NCIS: New Orleans seven. NCIS: Hawaii is in its third season, while NCIS: Sydney recently finished its first season. You do the math to get to 999.

So, as the NCISverse's 1,000th episode approaches, would now be the peak for the franchise, with two spinoffs airing this season and two new spinoffs planned for next season?

Not at all, although this certainly could be seen as the golden age of NCIS Recycling, which admittedly is at least in vogue now.

On the Mothership, Sean Murray's Tim McGee is the only remaining connection to the original cast. And, based on this season's episodes, producers seem to be running out of fresh things for him to do.

NCIS: Hawaii, the only spinoff not to receive a backdoor pilot, had been a fresh concept in a beautiful location.

However, now they've inherited Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) from NCIS: Los Angeles for an unspecified number of episodes in hopes of boosting ratings, and they're better for it narratively. It's like they've got an in-house sensei now.

NCIS: Sydney, renewed for a second season, has characters who seem drawn from the Mothership's archetypes, only with cool accents. That lends a sense of familiarity to the cast.

What was enjoyable on the ET special was hearing the British accent of Olivia Swann, who plays no-nonsense American task force leader Michelle Mackey on that spinoff.

Then there are next season's two new series, which clearly have Mothership DNA.

First, NCIS: Origins features a young Jethro Gibbs as he's just joining NCIS.

What's odd is that Austin Stowell will portray young Jethro, a role played seven times previously by Mark Harmon's son Sean, who will be a producer on the new series instead.

Then there's the new adventures of Tony and Ziva, which will air on Paramount+, as prodigal actors Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo return to the characters that made them famous.

In this yet-unnamed revival, after an attack on Tony's security firm in Paris, the pair and their tween daughter Tali go on the run across Paris. That streaming budget will come in handy, won't it?

If you liked these characters before, you'll doubtless enjoy the new incarnations. But let's not pretend any of this is reinventing the wheel.

So, let's begin the debate. When did the NCISverse (yes, it's a clumsy term) peak? And let there be no question that happened in the past.

My vote would be a decade ago, the 2013-2014 broadcast season, back when the phrase "broadcast season" held some meaning.

That was NCIS Season 11, the final full season for Ziva, back before any of most viewers' favorite characters had departed.

NCIS: Los Angeles was entering its fifth season, when Miguel Ferrer joined the cast as Owen Granger and long after the initial character kinks had been worked out.

That was also the season when the second spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans, was unveiled through a two-episode backdoor pilot, showing how much an exotic location and characters could help spice up a procedural.

The Scott Bakula starrer would return for real in September 2014, running for seven seasons before too much cast turnover helped to sink it.

The Mothership itself has soldiered on, through eight cast changes over the past decade, as spinoffs have risen and fell around it.

But it's not been easy to recapture that NCIS magic without Gibbs, the character upon which the series was built.

An excellent way to prepare for the 1,000th episode would be to seek out the hour-long ET special, a comprehensive combination of fresh interviews with the five series' stars and a ton of never-before-seen material from the ET vault.

The special promises Easter eggs and other surprises for fans.

Daniela Ruah (NCIS: Los Angeles), a recent NCIS director, and Vanessa Lachey (NCIS: Hawaii) are scheduled to make special appearances.

Expect NCIS stars to appear on CBS programs and other Paramount properties over the next week to help promote the episode.

As for the episode "A Thousand Yards," the logline reads," NCIS comes under attack by a mysterious enemy from the past. Vance tries to mend fences with his estranged son by explaining why, despite the ongoing dangers of his job, he still chooses to stay at NCIS."

Well, that's pretty nebulous since the team has put away quite a few people over the past 21 seasons. So, pick your favorite living villain and hope for the best.

If not for the promised Easter eggs and guest appearances, this really doesn't sound like a very special episode. Why not a two-hour special allowing producers to be more by skipping NCIS: Hawaii for another week?

With two new future series looming, will the NCISverse have another 1,000 episodes in the cards? Or will it grind to a halt like too many other long-running franchises have?

When do you feel the peak of the NCISverse was?

What was your favorite NCIS lineup?

What do you want to see in a 1,000th episode?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.