The revival of CSI: Las Vegas seemed to excite fans when the sequel series was announced but when the rebranded CSI: Vegas made its debut last Thursday, the live ratings indicate a very soft debut for once ratings behemoth.
CSI: Vegas, per “Variety,” debuted to a 0.4 demo rating and 4 million total viewers. This is an improvement over what SWAT was typically pulling in the timeslot but in terms of demo and viewers, the premiere of CSI: Vegas ranked sixth and seventh among this fall’s nine debuts so far. The 10:00 PM window on Wednesday can be a tough spot and it is good news that the show was up 54% from last year’s same time period but I’d guarantee that CBS was hoping for a better start.
The competition was stiff on Wednesday with the Chicago trio of Med, Fire, and P.D. dominating the night on NBC. Chicago P.D. faced off with CSI: Vegas directly and scored a 0.7 demo rating and 5.61 million viewers. What is completely clear is that the television landscape, particularly network television, has changed in a big way since CSI: Las Vegas was an absolute ratings juggernaut.
CSI: Las Vegas premiered during a time when live TV was still thriving and at the height of the show’s popularity during season 5, the series averaged 26.26 million viewers. These are numbers that are unheard of on network TV today. During its 15-season run, CSI: Las Vegas was recognized twice as the most-watched TV show in the world and it became a multibillion-dollar franchise for CBS. The series also spawned three spinoffs that included CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, and CSI: Cyber. No one was expecting CSI: Vegas to come close to these numbers but this start is a little concerning, although there are some caveats.
All of the Wednesday lineup on the Big Four networks had to deal with direct competition from Major League Baseball’s Wild Card Game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals on TBS. It’s very possible that delayed and digital viewing for CSI: Vegas could be strong for those who decided to not watch it live and opted to watch it later. Also, per NetBase, CSI: Vegas was strong on social media with over 1.4 billion impressions and over 18,000 mentions. That indicates some significant interest so once last night’s ratings come in, we will have a better picture of how the show is performing.
On CSI: Vegas, facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City. The show, which is being billed as a ten-episode limited series, brings back original show stars William Petersen, Jorja Fox, Wallace Langham, and Paul Guilfoyle, while new stars include Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, and Mandeep Dhillon. Critics have been kind to CSI: Vegas as it is 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an even more impressive 90% audience score.
Did YOU catch the premiere of CSI: Vegas?