Both fictions had recorded good audience data, but have ended up being canceled unexpectedly
For more than 20 years we have lived with two of the most successful television franchises in historybut so much NCIS as CSI have just experienced an unexpected setback with a double cancellation that no one had seen coming. At the end of last April, the American free-to-air network CBS announced that it was canceling one of the spin-offs of each of the franchises: NCIS: Hawaii, which ends with its third installment; and CSI:Vegasthe fifth series of the franchise that brought back several characters from the original fiction and was also in its season 3.
Both productions were recording fairly average figures, without notable decreases compared to previous seasons in which they were renewed, so CBS’s decision was quite unexpected.
CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach and company CEO George Cheek have addressed what’s behind both cancellations in statements to The Wrapin which They have cited finances and lack of space as the main reason for the decision made. “It’s up to us to keep the grid fresh and keep the momentum going,” explains Reisenbach. “We had to make some really tough decisions this year, everything has come back really strong.”
And, despite the strikes by writers and actors that have delayed the premiere of the new seasons of their series and have also shortened them in number of episodes, the network has finished well in general terms: closing the 2023-2024 television season as the most watched in prime time.
Budgets are challenged, so we don’t have an unlimited amount of slots on Paramount+
With the move, CBS leaves room for some of the series it is working on, which includes, without going any further, a new spin-off of NCIS about Gibbs’ origins and narrated by Mark Harmon himself. About CSIthe franchise has no ongoing spin-off series following the cancellation, but the report The Wrap reveals that there is one in “active development.”
Meanwhile, the cancellations of both series leave both stories unfinished for the public and it seems unlikely that the network will be able to turn back. In the absence of knowing what future awaits CSIwho was the oldest, NCIS maintains a large presence despite the cancellation: with the original series currently airing its 21st season, with NCIS: Sydney recently renewed for a season 2 and two spin-offs in progress. Plans for which, on the other hand, I was starting to need some space.
