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.
It figures- CBS is so out of touch, perpetually dishing out programs on murders , bodies being cut up and possessed folks talking to dead people. They finally have a smart and funny program which doesn’t hinge on sex or ghoulishness, and they cancel it All the adverisers think the 20 -somethings are the only ones buying anything, so no one puts anything on Saturday nights. Bring the show back –ADVERTISE it and put on Satuday night. Older folks have the capital to buy cars, use finnacal services and products and look for products that make them feel younger and… Read more »
Love Chaos, how stupid are they to take it off after only 3 episodes
Loved the show, had to catch on the interent, due to working on friday nights. It was awesome, funny and clever!! Please give it a new life. at least post remaining episodes online!!
Was finally able to watch the pilot episode of this show and was blown away! Couldn’t stop laughing! Seems like every time I start to like a show on CBS, it gets cancelled. No wonder I’m watching more shows on other stations.
Hopefully, this show will migrate to the Sci Fi channel, where more and more of my favorite shows seem to be ending up.
I loved this show, I only found out about it though AFTER it had been cancelled. Hopefully a cable channel will pick it up, this was one great show that got cancelled due to being on a channel that doesn’t know how to promote it or place it correctly in its lineup.
Loved CHAOS. Marketing, promotion, advertising. Learn these words, TV execs.
Love the show, miss it every Friday night @ 3:am after a long night of bartending. We DVR’d it and looke forward to watching it. Loved Medium too, miss that show just as much. Don’t know why people would rather watch reality shows instead of some good entertainment. Get enough of that everyday. Flashpoint is okay, but I prefer a good drama, with a quirky twist to it anyday. Thanks for listening. Kim’s friend Steve; I liked this show a lot because it had just the right amount of humor and sort of believable action. I think a program of… Read more »
bad promotion. I did not known the show was on until I saw by chance the third episode.
I love this show—-I only became aware of it through word of mouth!
Please don’t cancel this show.
Not to bad for s show I’ve never seen a commercial or advertisement for. Hard to be successful when half the viewing population hasn’t even heard if you.
Give Chaos a better night and time slot, Friday night, that’s not really fair to a new Series! Friday is where they send shows to die….Athough Blue Bloods is doing well there. Maybe I shouldn’t say that or they might cancel that one too. And that would be their second mistake. Just give Chaos another shot on a new day, then if it doesn’t work atleast it had a chance. It really is a Great show!
I think the problem was the lead actor not fitting the role. Freddy Rodriguez is 36 yet his character is supposed to be fresh out of college. I’m used to actors constantly playing 5 years younger (and that’s probably necessary just to get their careers going), but three times that is too much of a stretch. He couldn’t make this work for me. Carmen Ejogo is the same age (and they were believable together as a couple) but what new college grad is going to hook up with the Ex of a mid-40s guy (Eric Close)?
Chaos seemed doomed for failure. While all the shows had tons of advertizing,
little was seen of Chaos. You teased us with well written scripts, good acting and an hour filled with fun and drama.
Please give the show a chance…
Linda
Tr y advertising this show…or putting it on a different night other than the worst night of the week. Finally a show that has it all…and no one knows it exists…thankfully I heard about it on itunes, free episode. I am so disgusted by CBS.
I loved Chaos! It was a nice change from all of the carbon copy shows out there! Medical, law, and criminal dramas have all been done. I don’t watch a lot of tv anymore since it’s the same thing all the time. It was finally nice to see something new break out of the mold. CBS really blew it when it canceled this after only three episodes!
Does CBS even look at these? I always wonder if they’re even paying attention when enough people say something is worth watching. Their attitudes don’t seem to have changed all that much from when Star Trek needed to be saved by a write in campaign. I hope my vote counts towards saving this show.
why did you cancel this show? you didn’t even give it time to catch on. we all loved it, and were passing on the word. you give us something fun and different, and then you take it away. one more show of the same thing, and we are going to tear our hair out. this was funny, different, and totally enjoyable, and really something to look forward to on a friday night after a long day of work! bring it back please.