What’s on ION tonight? Here is the full ION schedule for Sunday, November 1, 2026, with times in Eastern Time (ET).

ION is running NCIS from 6am to midnight, and the best of it is after 7pm

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

ION has given Sunday over to NCIS. Eighteen hourly episodes run from 6am through 11pm, which is about as close to a single-show channel as a network gets, and the part worth planning around is the primetime block: four straight hours from 7pm that come from the show’s 23rd series, not the older seasons filling the day.

That block opens at 7pm ET/PT (6pm Central) with “Prodigal Son Part 1”, the first episode of series 23 and flagged as a series opener. “Part 2” follows at 8pm and is the pick, simply because a two-part story is only worth watching if you see both halves, and the 8pm hour is where the pair pays off. After it come “The Sound And The Fury” at 9pm and “Gone Girls” at 10pm. If you want the least effort, set up on the couch at 7pm and don’t move.

Be honest about what that means for the rest of the day. NCIS is a long-running procedural on ION, one with 507 episodes to date across 24 series, originally on CBS, with Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum and Sasha Alexander in the cast. At that scale, a marathon is a fixture rather than an event, and ION treats it as one. The morning belongs to series 17, six episodes from “Lonely Hearts” at 6am to “The Arizona” at 11am, and the afternoon moves to series 18, starting at noon with “Sturgeon Season”, flagged as a series opener. That afternoon run skips straight from “Sunburn” at 3pm to “1mm” at 4pm, which is episode 6, so one episode of the series is missing from the order.

Series 18 comes back once more at 11pm with “Winter Chill”, the ninth episode, after the series 23 block. It’s an odd place for it, but it’s the closing slot, and it means the night ends on an older episode rather than a fresh one.

The competition at 8pm is Mrs. Doubtfire on ABC, The Simpsons on Fox, Naked and Afraid on Discovery, The Real Housewives of Potomac on Bravo and Aladdin on Freeform. NCIS is the quiet alternative to all of those, and at 9pm and 10pm it goes up against Family Guy, Naked and Afraid and, on HBO, The Gilded Age. If you want a procedural with no learning curve, this is where it is.

Overnight is a different story. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit takes the midnight, 1am and 2am hours with three consecutive episodes from series 15, and paid programming fills most of what remains until 6am. SVU also turns up on seven other days in the window, so it’s a house staple. If you’re a night owl, it’s the best late option on the channel.

Verdict: tune in at 7pm for the series 23 block, treat 8pm as the main event, and ignore the daytime unless you’re a completist.


Also on TV tonight at 8pm ET

  • ABC: America’s Funniest Home Videos (from 7pm ET)
  • NBC: Football Night in America (from 7pm ET)
  • CBS: 60 Minutes (from 7:30pm ET)
  • FOX: The Simpsons
  • PBS: Professor T
  • The CW: Ocean’s Eleven (from 7pm ET)
  • TCM: Strategic Air Command
  • AMC: Jurassic World: Dominion (from 7pm ET)
  • FX: National Treasure (from 7pm ET)
  • Freeform: Aladdin

Every channel tonight, side by side · Movies on TV this week · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

What’s on ION tonight?

On Sunday, November 1, 2026, ION shows NCIS at 8pm ET, NCIS at 9pm ET and NCIS at 10pm ET.

Is there a movie on ION tonight?

No. ION has no movies in its evening schedule on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

What’s on ION late tonight?

After 11pm ET, ION has NCIS at 11pm ET.

What time does ION’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with NCIS at 6pm ET.