Right on schedule, CBS has decided to ditch their new Friday night TV series, CHAOS, after just a few weeks on the air. The show stumbled in the ratings right from the start and never recovered. It’s no longer on the air but is it cancelled?
A dramatic comedy, CHAOS follows a small group of CIA misfit spies who make up the Clandestine Administration and Oversight Services (CAOS). In addition to taking on threats to national security, they also must take on redtape and typical government bureaucracy. The TV series stars Freddy Rodriguez, Eric Close, James Murray, Tim Blake Nelson, Carmen Ejogo, Christina Cole, and Kurtwood Smith.
As detailed here, CHAOS debuted to a horrible 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 6.53 million viewers. That was quite a bit lower than the season average of Medium, a series that CBS cancelled because of poor ratings.
In the second week, CHAOS fell even lower to a 0.9 rating in the demo and 5.73 million viewers. Last Friday night, bumped up ever so slightly in the demo, to a 1.0 rating and 5.683 million. Unfortunately, that was far from enough of a gain to save the TV series.
CBS has pulled CHAOS from the schedule effective immediately. This week, a rerun of CSI: NY will fill the timeshot — and probably get better ratings. Next week, the previously scheduled The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty will air. Then, beginning on May 6th, new episodes of Flashpoint will take over.
The network has 10 episodes of CHAOS left sitting on the shelf. CBS hasn’t said if there are any plans to release the unaired installments. Though CHAOS hasn’t been officially cancelled yet, there’s no way that they’ll be renewing it for a second season.
UPDATE: A statement from CBS indicates that the show will return to the schedule at some point in the future.
What do you think? Why did the TV show do so poorly, even by Friday night standards? Will you miss CHAOS?
Image courtesy CBS.
I liked the show. The pilot did start out a little slow but the episodes were better. I liked the cast also. Maybe if they had given the show more advertsing. I don’t think I saw much.
BRING BACK THE DEFENDERS! THE DEFENDERS! THE DEFENDERS!
i loved this show! i was totally ready to add it to my regular tv watching schedule. i freaked out when i just saw that it was not scheduled on my dvr. i laughed out loud a few times every episode and i never do that. i hope they release it on dvd! soon!
I liked the show. I watched it all 3x and put it on my “watch regularly” list. I loved the cast. All of them! I loved the campy humor, loved the Scottish hottie, even was warming up to the guy playing the Director! Too bad.
Of course they would cancel a good show before it even gets off the ground.
And of course they renew idiotic mind rot like The Big Bang Theory for a seventh season.
Because it’s all about the money. Either that or most viewers have incredibly lousy taste.
Really liked this show and looked forward to watching it despite the unfortunate time slot. CBS makes another stellar decision…never ceases to disappoint. Bring on the stupid reality TV that our generation will be known for…
I like Chaos. So of course they will cancel it due to the “ratings.” Well I ask AGAIN. GREYS ANATOMY DID A 1.3 LAST WEEK WHY ARENT THEY CANCELLING THAT PLAYED OUT SHOW?
pathetic networks.
I guess I’m weird. I stumbled across CHAOS a few days ago. I watched the first episode and told others that I liked it. I saw the second and told them I was hooked. I’m set to watch the third and just heard Chaos is gone.
(Shaking my head in bewilderment.)
There is nothing else good on Friday nights. I will miss CHAOS.
it was an ok show
The title brought up images of GET SMART….and Chaos started out a little like GS but it did get better every episode. We stayed home to watch it. I hope they broadcast the other 10 episodes.
I’m disappointed.. I enjoyed this far more than Breaking In and though it got off to a shakey start the 3rd episode I’ve just watched showed real promise.. I want to see more of it..
I actually like Chaos. I also liked The Good Guys. Chaos was better than a lot of these other shows on today. It is much better than all these reality shows. You have to give a show more than 3 episodes and realize that Friday night is not the best night to debut a TV show. They should have debuted Chaos on a different night.
I agree- I too liked CHAOS and The Good Guys. Remember Seinfeld? They wanted to cancel that show too until people were able to find it!
I am amazed at the shows that last and the ones that don’t. It always seems to be the ones I like that get cancelled.
I only heard of a few people who liked the show, and I found it boring and couldn’t make it beyond the pilot’s first 20 minutes. Bring back The Good Guys! It was fun Friday night viewing, on Fox.
Well there’s isn’t a large number of shows that I’ve only watched once then just stopped, but this one of them. It sucks that Kurtwood and Freddy landed on this show honestly. This has a heart somewhere, but just didn’t show any plans of showing it if that makes any sense to you. But this show was just not even attemting to wow me. It was more like ‘If I suck, then tough s**t’. So my mom and I agreed,it wasn’t worth watching again. So I’m not surprised they pulled it.