CSI: Vegas fans weren't the only ones surprised by CBS's cancellation

When CBS announced the cancellation of CSI: Vegas, our reaction can best be summed up in one word: surprised. 

The show hails from one of CBS’s most successful and long-running franchises and it also has continued to be a strong performer for the network despite its timeslot – Sundays at 10/9c which is often a difficult spot for any show to succeed. Yet CSI: Vegas has managed to not only maintain its audience in its third season but it’s improved upon them with ratings up 4% year-over-year. 

Despite all of this, CBS still decided to cancel the series after three seasons a move that left fans shocked and questioning the network’s choices. After all, CSI: Vegas did everything it seemingly should have needed to do in order to secure another season. In fact, if the show was putting up the numbers it did at CBS on another network this season, there is no way it wouldn’t be coming back for another season – a reality that was not lost on star Paula Newsome. 

Paula Newsome was also shocked CBS canceled CSI: Vegas

Fans aren’t the only ones who were surprised by CBS’s decision to cancel CSI: Vegas, the sentiment is also shared by series lead Paula Newsome. “I got the news from my showrunner [Jason Tracey], and I was very surprised because our ratings are so good,” Newsome told TVLine reacting to CBS's decision to end CSI: Vegas after three seasons.

As Newsome pointed out, the ratings this year were higher than many other networks and the irony is that in the past, those numbers would have been more than enough for the show to continue for many seasons to come. 

“Our numbers were much higher than a lot of shows on other networks that had been picked up, so that was very surprising, but I know the business is tough,” Newsome added. “[In the past] a show with our numbers would be on for a couple more seasons, no question.”

She had a very good point. If the show aired on any other network, it likely would been an easy renewal but CBS isn’t any other network. It’s the most-watched network and sadly that means many hit series aren’t coming back because the network only has so many slots on its calendar.

It’s a frustrating reality, one made even more frustrating by the fact that we had to say goodbye to so many amazing shows such as CSI: Vegas not because they weren’t drawing in audiences but because their home network had too many hits and refused to shop any of its in-house productions elsewhere.