After seven years on the beat, the show’s over for Detective Lily Rush (Kathryn Morris). CBS has officially cancelled Cold Case.
Each episode of Cold Case begins by showing an unsolved crime from the past. The scene then flashes forward to the present day and a group of homicide detectives try to piece together what really happened, using old evidence and new interviews. The series stars Morris, Danny Pino, John Finn, Jeremy Ratchford, Thom Barry, and Tracie Thoms.
Cold Case began in September of 2003 and quickly became a staple of the CBS Sunday night schedule. The crime drama had a successful first season and, by season two, was averaging a 3.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 15.1 million viewers. For the next couple seasons, total viewership fell a bit but the all-important demo numbers rose, reaching a 3.8 in season four.
Unfortunately the ratings have come down quite a bit since then. In season five, the show averaged a 2.9 rating and about 12 million viewers. Last season, Cold Case sank lower, to an average of a 2.7 rating and CBS made a choice between renewing ailing Without a Trace or Cold Case. They chose to keep Cold Case but may have regretted it pretty quickly. This season, the show’s ratings dropped even further to a 2.15 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 9.6 million viewers.
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So, while the overall viewership isn’t terrible, the demo numbers are and that’s what brings the ad dollars. CBS often has the most total viewers, but they are often lacking in the 18-49 demo department.
To no surprise, CBS has cancelled Cold Case after seven years on the air. The show won’t be back for season eight next fall. Sadly, the show is not available on DVD. It’s believed that securing the rights for the show’s extensive use of period music is problematic.
What do you think? Are you sorry to see the series go? What could have been done to help the TV show’s ratings?
Image courtesy CBS.
Ditto to everybody’s comments above. Now CSI Miami is stuck on Sunday nights after football games run overtime. One week, everything ran so late that our local station didn’t show any of CSI Miami. I loved Cold Case. How about CBS moving 60 Minutes or one of their highly rate vulgar sitcoms to the Sunday night time slot and see how fast any of those shows sink?
cbs stinks for cancelling cold case a good show w great music and great drama. Bring the show back
Are you kidding me?? We would set the DVR to run half the night just to catch this show. When it runs after football and Amazing Race we were LUCKY to find it at all it came on so late!! How hard would it have been to find a new night/time slot for one of the most amazing shows on television?? Big mistake!!
I have stopped watching dramas on CBS. It is too disappointing. They cancelled Judging Amy without notice, they cancelled The Unit, one of the only TV shows my husband and I both enjoyed and now Cold Case… another show that my husband and I watched together. I don’t want to be invested in any of the shows CBS has because they have no problem canceling them without notice or closure.
By the way, my husband and I are in that “all important” demographic!
I hate that the show was cancelled! What kind of chance did it have with football always running over their time slot. People can’t tevo when the hours aren’t consistent, and they get bored wanting for it to come on so they flip to something else. My family and I are sick of all the “Reality” trash on tv. They don’t know what reality is. Most are planned out or re-enactments of bad behavior and people seeing how far they can degrade themselves or someone else. Thank goodness for cable and netflix so I don’t have to watch typical primetime.
they could and should have moved it to another night. It is a great show but was on opposite desparate housewives. If it were moved to saturday or friday any other night it would have survived I love the show and miss it. I looked on other nights. I miss it was not the show it was the time it aired.
This was one of the best shows on TV and I cannot believe it was cancelled. I know so many people who watched it, and they didn’t even have a series finale! I agree with a prior comment that the reason it wasn’t watched as much anymore is because it never aired on time, if at all in my area, due to football and the Amazing Race, etc. The network really made a big mistake in removing this quality, intelligent, well-acted, and most of all fascinating show! Instead they keep these stupid, boring “Reality Shows” on.
I have just realized that cold case will not be coming back. I am so disappointed as this season’s tv is so much crap. I truly looked forward to watching cold case. I am a Canadian viewer.
I am so disappointed that Cold Case has been cancelled, I always looked forward to watching it, so much better than many of the shows on right now. What a shame that we cannot look forward to buying/renting DVDs of the show either.
Do you think that possibly some of the ratings went down because it ran after Amazing race? Amazing race never finished on time and by the time you figured out when Cold Case was on you already missed half of the episode and i would figure i would just catch it on a rerun! That was annoying not to be able to watch my favorite program because of some nonsence thet came on before it! They could of moved it to another night!
Very disappointed. One of the most intelligent shows on the air
I am so disappointed that cold case isnt going for another season…That show is one of the best thats been on tv in a long time. So many reality tv shows have taken over the air and its ridiculous. I looked forward to Sunday nights watching Cold Case…..what makes it worse is you cant even get the series on dvd due to some bs about the music…..disappointing CBS disappointing……
I am highly disappointed. Cold Case is the only television show that I actually looked forward to watching. It was difficult to keep up with the show when the time slots were often changed. The music was so mesmerizing. Since the show no longer comes on, the least that can be done is for Cold Case to be available for viewing to those of us who are fans. We were cheated out of a very good show. Do we need to be cheated out of the opportunity to see the episodes as reruns? Maybe the execs at CBS do not… Read more »
10 MMILLION VIEWERS WATCHED COLD CASE SEASON FINAL…. #17TH IN THE RATINGS….. IN TOP 20 BEATING 2 IN A HALF MEN…. COLD CASE HAS BEEN IN THE TOP 20 MOST OF SEASON 7…..COLD CASE WAS CHEATED OUT OF A 8TH SEASON….. THAT WAS VERY WRONG OF CBS TO JACK COLD CASE FROM 8TH SEASON…..10 MILLION FANS KNOW THAT….. SO LETS GET COLD CASE A 8TH IT DESERVES…..PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION FOR 8TH OR A POSSIBLE 9TH.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/coldcase8th9thseason-50episodes
THANKS VERY MUCH
Dodge Saienni
A GIANT COLD CASE FAN
I am soo soo disapointed! There is so much “reality tv” going on and not everyone enjoys it! It’s not even “real”! Cold Case was my break from the junk that plays on tv now-a-days. I loved loved loved Cold Case and was a faithful view for so many years. It was the one show my husband and I actually agreed on! Lol So sad to find out it was cancelled. I was actually fortunate enough to meet Danny Pino once when we took our kids to Disneyland (California Adventure). He was so gracious and nice. I could barely even… Read more »