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 love Chaos. I thought it was a great show. I hope they bring it back.
OMG – CHAOS was fabulous. Made me think sometimes of the old Elery Queen show with Tim Hutton. You sometimes actually had to THINK to watch it. Hey, what a concept!! What can we do to get it back. PLEASE don’t cancel it.
I love this show. Can we start a petition?
Chaos is great! It is good entertainment for reasonably intelligent people, I would like to see it run for several years, in its own way it is a good as MONK and that was great!
My husband and I really loved this tv show. I wish it were still on.
My husband and I loved the show. We are in our late fifties. We both thought it was thoroughly entertaining. How can we get CBS to bring it back. Can we buy season 1 and the 10 episodes that haven’t been released? My husband and I are totally sick of reality shows. Please bring it back at some point in time….
My husband I looked forward to Chaos. It was a great family show. We need more of that. The new season of shows coming up is a dissapointment to us, especially Playboy. If we wanted ” Playboy” we would buy the magazine,that this kind of entertainment is not what we want. Chaos produced humor and action and the characters were great. Bring it back please.
Maybe it was too close to the truth. Awesome show. What can WE do to bring it back?
It was a good show – different. I really enjoyed it although I’m not an 18-49 year old male, but rather a 72 year old female. I thought the characters had chemistry.
This was a great show filled with action, scarcsm, jokes, and just out right fun to watch. So, please dont cancel this show! The cast is perfect in this show.
I love CHAOS! Just took three days and watched all of the series that I had recorded and saved on DVR – because I could never watch it on Friday nights. This is a great show. Great chemistry between the actors! Clever story lines! Wonderful Wit! Please bring this program back. It’s refreshing!
Please bring back CHAOS, I loved this show!!
The first show took some concentration but got so much better as it progressed. I loved it and the actors were great and seemed to work together so well. I even had my TV programed to record it. Please bring it back – even for a new season.
THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD PROGRAM. IT HAD SOME HUMOR, ALONG WITH ACTION. I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND PEOPLE THAT WOULD TUNE INTO REALITY SHOWS INSTEAD OF CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I too love this show, so does my husband. It seems that a lot of couples are watching together. If not on CBS I hope that USA picks it up. It is fun, creative and new. I don’t care about remakes of Hawaii 5-0. I have watched H50 because it’s easy. But it’s also stupid; how many times can they be riding the motorcycle with the flak jacket on? I also don’t need shows like Pan Am and Playboy. Please give us shows that families can watch and if you do show us sex, violence or negative family issues do… Read more »