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?
Hello!!!!! Its not often a intelligent TV show emerges from the mindless maze of television. …for years now television has moved away from shows that display good acting….traditional values….intelligent scripts..action…..and visual show stoppers like the night life of Vegas, Mike and Dennis are great stars in their own right….together they hit it out of the park, not to mention a slew of old classic cars….this show has it all. Any smart exsec knows that a project this classy and traditional needs some time to catch on…but if you are all about rating and nothing else…you will be sorry. Look at… Read more »
I vote to keep the show. It’s different from “Las Vegas”. It does not drag on. The hour passes too quickly, making me hungry for the next week’s episode. The show deserves another year at least. It’s “ggod guys vs. bad guys” every week and shows what thearly Las Vegas like.
My wife and I love this show, and have been looking forward to the next episode eagerly, especially since Jack admitted to Mia that he killed her father, and she kicked him out! Was a very dramatic place in the story, and then did not come on the next week! We LOVE IT!! Please do not cancel!
Please do not cancel Vegas. I love this show,and can’t wait to see it on Tuesday nights.
I do believe that if you cancel Vegas you are doing yourselves an injustice. It is a very great show and we have missed it last week and now this one. Perhaps more advertising would be beneficial to boost the ratings. Also, moving it to Friday night is a great way for you to have it cancelled. What a joke, how many people nation wide are actually home on the weekend. Having it on Tuesday gave us in my house, a good show to look forward to watching, now on Tuesday nights we watch the news and the TV is… Read more »
agree, keep vegas on tuesday
Please continue to run Vegas. Love the show and Dennis Quaid.
I totally enjoy the show and the people on it. I really look forward to Tuesday’s because I know I can have something good to watch that is for people my age instead of the younger generation. I definately vote to keep it on the air. The networks need to think about something besides what the young people want and what others want to watch.
great show do not cancrl vegas its one of the best show to come along since magnum P I or simon&simon
My gosh, what a shame it would be to cancel this wonderful show. My wife and I look forward every week for the show to come on. There are so many stupid shows on now and to cancel Vegas would be awful.
My wife and I enjoy this show very much. The cast does a great job. We would like to see this show stay on the network. There are very few shows that are as interesting and wanting to wait until the next show. We would be very sad to see this show gone.
DO NOT CANCEL VEGAS PLEEEEASE! We Love it!
Please do not cancel Vegas. There are so many mindless programs on TV that it is a shame to drop somethings is relatively entertaining and has quality actors.Drop reality programs
I highly recommend keeping Vegas on the air. It gives a brief history of the start on the city and its problem, to me it enjoyable. The characters are interesting and not boring.
NO. DO not cancel that entertaining show. I can’t believe some of the schmuck that is on and CBS wants to cancel VEGAS. EGADS. Don’t cancel the show.
I strongly support keeping this show running. A visitor to Vegas since 1972 it brings back old memories, Mike and Dennis are great. Think hard and twice if considering to ax this very entertaining show.