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?
Every time there’s a show I like, it’s cancelled! I LIKE VEGAS!
Please don’t cancel “Vegas” or Elementary”, cancel some of the other “junk” you have on line up,!!!! CSI & Mentalist have run their course too.. I’ve stopped watching most of CBS shows for this reason, “you cancel the good ones with good actors, stories etc ” and keep the junk, How I Met your mother, and those other reality shows which promote, cheating, lying, stealing and all around bad behaviour!!!!!; CBS needs to get real and think about something other than their purse…. “Vegas” will prove out, if you give it a chance!!!!!!! You haven’t even spent much money/time on… Read more »
CBS is falling on it’s (ASS), by pulling this crap of starting new shows and then scrapping them. Try another time slot or something. Every time I start watching a new show on CBS that I like, they end up just quitting on it. There are a number of time slots that could be filled right now with this show. Heck, you put it right behind NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles. Anything would look bad following those two programs. I took a peek at “Golden Boy”. My opinion? Get a good illustrator and sell it to Marvel Comics. I won’t… Read more »
Whatever you do don’t cancell Vegas …. You have so many stories to tell… All of them interesting to everyone … We look forward to the series each week and we plan our agenda around your show… It’s great…..
Please don’t cancel Vegas great show!
There really isn’t much worth watching on the tube anymore. So why don’t you leave one of the good and interesting shows, Vegas, alone and schedule a second season!!! You should cancel NCIS Los Angeles, terrible acting!!!
OMG please don’t cancel Vegas … we all love it! !!!!
I love Dennis Quaid’s smile, he is just such a man, please do not cancel Vegas and please do not take DENNIS off the show
Don’t cancel “Vegas” it is one of my favorite shows that I look forward to watching every week. There are very few shows that I actually enjoy watching any more.
My husband and I love this show so much, its so exciting and brings us back to the real days of Vegas. Its action packed with wonderful story lines….better than most reality shows! ” PLEASE ” do not cancel!!!
Don’t cancel Vegas, it’s one of my favorite shows and I enjoy watching it every week.
Please,Please—do not cancel vegas—golden boy sucks BRING BACK VEGAS now and next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vegas is one of the best shows on. We love it and all the actors!
Please do NOT cancel this show. We really enjoy this on Tuesday night to relax before bed after NCIS: LA. Do NOT move it to Friday. That is a good way to kill the show ratings entirely! The actors do very well bringing back the 1960’s;they were rough to live through. Thanks for the great shows! Eliminate at least one of the reality TV shows; they get boring and stupid!!!
Can’t believe they would cancel Vegas! With all the stupid “reality” shows on, it’s one of the only shows other than NCIS worth watching!