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.
Great show seriously disappointed to see it pulled. Shows rarely get the attention they deserve right off the bat unless they have some BIG name in it which means lots of publicity. This show was just starting off and in my mind and many others was very good and continuing to get better. I’m not sure how they get their ratings anymore when the reality is that so few people actually watch the shows when they air live on tv. So many people these days either DVR them or watch on the CBS website. Are those numbers included. It wouldn’t… Read more »
I totally agree! I was hooked right away. Bring it back! (I DVR everything especially since you never know when, where or even if your favorite shows will be on).
A great show; as typical the dumb-ass knuckleheads at CBS got their head up their A__ and pull a show because they premier it on a particular three weeks and dump the other ten shows they spent a S— Load of money on. Leave it to the people to decide moroons.
Loved it! Good stories and characters. Was hooked. Bring it back!
Every show that’s the least bit intelligent and witty ends up cancelled. Go figure
Agreed!! Instead we get two hours for Biggest Loser (which can be watched in 25-30 minutes if you skip all the times the host re-explains the rules) and how many nights do they show American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance? We need some witty shows!!!
It was a good show, off to a slow start, was it a comedy or a spy show, but got better with each episode, it’s a shame to cancel and not run the remaining episodes. So much good programming is canceled these days due to poor time slot choices, and Friday night is always a poor programming night, or at least has been since the 1980s. It’s a throw-away night, like Saturday nights. Had it been put on a different night, in a different line-up, might have had better ratings. What are ratings like on Friday nights for any show… Read more »
excellent choice to take it off. i like the idea of the show. it just took way to longer to get a viewer involve. it really seems to drag on rather then keeping you involved in it. i could take a nap then come back and not feel like i missed anything. basically a show that you can go cook while it is on.
I don’t watch a lot of television, but I happen to catch the premier of “Chaos” and was completely hooked. I thought it was funny, clever and rather sexy.
I wish they would bring it back! We need programming like this!
Great, now where will Eric Close go now?
Fell in love with the show. I am already tired of reruns. Was very refreshing to watch something different. Could they not change the time slot? If I could not watch I DVR.
Love the show. The problem with a lot of the new series lately is their time slots. If I am already invested in another show during that time when the new show debuts, I will probably never see it. Because Eric Close was in it, I DVR’d it and really liked the smart fun of the show. It would make a great summer replacement show. I especially liked the guy who does all the stealth fighting and can take down a whole army on his own. He is hilarious!
Love this show. Its the only show I’ve had any interest in on CBS. I was over all of the CSIs and NCIS several years ago.
“Chaos” is a breath of fresh air in the over saturated crime-fighting TV show market. Witty dialogue, intriguing characters, compelling plots, and a wee bit of whimsy thrown in. I love this show! Please don’t cancel it based on poor ratings–tons of people (myself included) no longer watch TV shows when they actually air. I watched all 3 episodes on CBS’ website. Besides, Friday night isn’t exactly the best time for a new show anyway. I really hope “Chaos” gets a second chance!
We really like this show and wish you would reconsider cancelling it. It’s a lot better
than Flashpoint. Why not give it more of a chance? There have been many shows we
did not like at first but over a longer period of time we got to really enjoy them, come on
Rome wasn’t built in a day!
keep the show
After watching the first 3 episodes, I was completely hooked-clever dialoge, great action ,perferct absurdity-who could ask for more?
I TIVO/DVR everything I like, when will they ‘get’ that timeslots
are an increasingly poor indicater of a show’s success? How many people capture it for later viewing would tell the veiwership tale better.
I totally agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!