Fans of the CBS procedural mega-franchise CSI, prepare yourselves. The last entry in the franchise, CSI: Cyber has just been cancelled by the network.
The news of the cancellation just came through from The Hollywood Reporter. This makes CSI: Cyber the first of the CSI franchise to be cancelled after only two seasons. The second entry in the series of procedural programs, CSI: Miami, ran from 2002-2012, CSI: New York ran from 2004-2013, and the first entry in the franchise, the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation just wrapped up a mega 15 season run last fall.
CSI: Cyber, the fourth installment of the franchise, followed a team of elite FBI investigators in Washington D.C. who search out those involved in cyber crimes across the country. Avery Ryan (Patricia Arquette) is a behavioral psychologist who heads the team as a cyber psychologist experienced in rooting out criminals who use the dark net as a weapon.
The show didn’t exactly premiere to critical praise. The first season garnered only mixed reviews, and only received a 35 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the average rating per critic being 5.1 out of 10 possible points. The site’s critical consensus noted that CSI: Cyber had some impressive on-screen talent, but failed to do anything with the actors or storylines that stepped beyond what the past iterations of the show had done, meaning that the show ended up being simply more of the same for the CSI franchise.
Ratings for the show have also shown that audiences haven’t been so hot on the property, either. The premiere managed to net almost 11 million viewers, but by the time its 13-episode first season was done, that had slipped to almost 7 million viewers. And, even though the second season was given an 18-episode order by CBS, CSI: Cyber couldn’t manage to up its numbers any, and actually had the ratings fall a bit in the second season.
The show tried to stop the audience bleeding by adding CSI star Ted Danson to the cast roster in the second season, after he finished his four-year stint on the original show, which was, famously, set in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the addition of a member of the CSI cast didn’t do anything to bolster the ratings. And, by the end of the series on March 13, the show experienced the lowest ratings it had seen so far.
Well, you can’t say that CBS and the folks behind CSI didn’t try to keep the legacy alive. After 36 seasons of television across four franchise shows, the whole series managed to rack up numerous award nominations, wins and fans. It also made CBS a popular place to go for fans of police procedural storytelling, which led to shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds.
If you’re already sad about losing CSI: Cyber, you can drown your sorrows by checking out our summer TV premiere schedule and finding a show to fill your time for the next few months.
