Going into the fall season, CBS’ Vegas series was one of the new TV shows with the most buzz. Many people were expecting it to be one of the hits of the season. Has it measured up? Should it be cancelled or renewed for a second season?
Airing on Tuesday nights, Vegas takes place in the Las Vegas of the 1960s and revolves around Sheriff Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid), a former rancher, and his clashes with Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis), a Chicago mobster who moved west to set up his operation. Others in the cast include Carrie-Anne Moss, Taylor Handley, Sarah Jones, and Jason O’Mara.
The show debuted back on September 25th to a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 14.85 million total viewers. While the viewership was strong, CBS was likely expecting a much better demo number — especially considering the show’s high-profile talent, positive reviews, and the show having a strong lead-in like NCIS: Los Angeles.
In week two, the ratings dropped 20%, to a 2.0 rating with 12.11 million. In week four, they dropped another 20%, to a 1.6 rating with 10.8 million.
The numbers have remained fairly steady since then and the 15 episodes that have aired thus far have averaged a 1.7 demo rating with 10.9 million viewers.
While that demo might be enough for a show on NBC, it’s not likely good enough for CBS. Right now, Vegas is one of the network’s lowest-rated weekday series in the demographic which advertisers favor. Vegas has a lot of total viewers but so do many other CBS shows.
Last season, Unforgettable occupied the same timeslot and performed better than Vegas — averaging a 2.3 demo rating and 11.3 million viewers. It was cancelled.
The network ended up making a deal with Sony TV to bring Unforgettable back for a short season this summer and both sides likely made some financial concessions to make that happen. Word is that most of the supporting castmembers have been dropped. A deal like that is not likely to happen with Vegas.
Unless the ratings start to climb, it doesn’t look very likely that Vegas will be back for a second season.
On the positive side, the series will be back on March 19th and there are seven new episodes yet to come.
What do you think? Do you think CBS should cancel Vegas to make way for a new show? Or, should they renew Quaid and company for a second season? If you were running the network, would you change anything try to attract higher ratings?
I think Vegas is a great show and am very disappointed that it has been replaced with Golden Boy. Period shows like Vegas are few and far between and should be given every opportunity to build their audiences. The cast is wonderful, very solid actors.
PLEASE bring it back!!!
We want Vagas
Vegas is the only show that I make an appoint to watch. The rest is just krap to pass time when I have nothing to do. If Vegas is cancelled, I will be stuck with a lot of Netflix. I really encourage keeping Vegas. The writing is great, the actors are good and it is a very entertaining show.
best new show aound. leave it to those cbs “gods” who don’t have a clue!!!
I love the show. Sometnnes you have to take a risk. I hope they do. I’ll watch it wheneve its on , andon whatever channel. I think the acting is great and the storyline and production equally great. I hope they give it a chance for another season. It’s riveting.
I love Vegas I hope CBS renews it. It was nice to finally see a drama on instead of another reality show. Reality shows have taken over television so I hope CBS realizes thay they do have a very good drama with Vegas.
Vegas is one of the few shows that does not have a liberal slant.
I loved the show and want to see it come back. I am part of that 50’s generation and liked this show very much. Please bring it back.
Vegas is a great show, it goes back in time, the characters are great and it has personal twists within the family and humor and drama. Everything a good show should have. Leave it alone. The show you put in it’s place is horrible. I can’t stand it.
please do not cancel this show. our famy loves it. if cbs can not make the right coise to keep it then i hope fx or tnt will pick it up
Leave Vegas alone. This was one of the new shows I liked and I miss it.
Please do not cancel. It is good show compared to allot of the other crap that airs
is cbs nuts this was one of the shows I looked forward to watching maybe cbs big wigs are part of nbc
bring Vegas back to Tuesday…….we’ve been waiting….
Vegas is original. So many other shows are formulaic. It has a great cast. It has history, action and atmosphere. I don’t understand why it is not doing well. I love it.