Here is the table for Week 13 of CBS Renew/Cancel. This week we analyze CSI: Vegas’s performance and the likelihood of it having a future on CBS.
CSI: Vegas
When CSI: Vegas was ordered to series, it was to become the first new installment in the iconic franchise since the short-lived CSI: Cyber’s two season, 31-episode run from March 2015 through March 2016. Cyber was CBS’s first attempt to reinvigorate the CSI franchise, as the original was canceled due to low ratings after 15 seasons while Cyber was in its first season. At this point, CBS was not far removed from having canceled CSI: New York and CSI: Miami, which ran for 9 and 10 seasons respectively.
At 64% of the overall league average, CSI: Vegas is now doing in line with what CSI: Cyber did in its second season, slightly below what CSI: New York did in its later seasons on Fridays, and well below every other season of a CSI show. There just does not seem to be a nostalgia factor for the CSI franchise, and what started as a clear attempt at getting yet another CSI show to syndication appears to be on track to end the same way CSI: Cyber did: canceled after around 30 episodes.
CSI: Vegas’s final airing in 2022 scored a 0.27 A18-49 rating, the same as its season premiere and 0.07 below the next lowest-rated show on CBS’s average rating. It notched a 2.9 W18-49 share and a 2.3 M18-49 share, and in all three metrics finished below The Parent Test on ABC and La Madrastra on Univision. It was able out-rate NBC’s Movie Special and a rerun of Amor Y Traicion on Telenovela. It beat the other broadcast networks handily in the older demos, where CBS tends to excel; even then, its 0.47 A25-54 out of lead-in So Help Me Todd’s 0.61 and 7.6 Adults 50+ share compared to So Help Me Todd’s 8.9 show room for improvement.
Dropping significantly from Todd and being CBS’s lowest-rated show is a consistent pattern for CSI: Vegas, and one that is is showing no signs of breaking. When CSI: Cyber struggled, CBS added CSI favorite Ted Danson to the cast in attempt to boost the ratings. No such stunt seems to be in the works for CSI: Vegas. At this point, it’s not even an improvement upon last season’s time slot occupant, Bull. Perhaps CSI: Vegas can air a third season on Paramount+, but CBS must realize there will likely be little interest in syndication for a show that has yet to find a solidly sized audience despite its franchise name. As such, it remains in the Likely Cancel category.