Recovering a classic brand does not mean having the mammoth audiences of yesteryear: the directors of the United States know this well, even though they ask for more remakes, spin-offs and revivals than original ideas. And, in the case of CSI: Vegas, this has been fatal: the sequel to the crime franchise, after three seasons on the air, has been canceled.
CSI: Vegas premiered in October 2021, six years after CSI: Las Vegas, the series created by Anthony E. Zuiker, said goodbye. It tried to be a hybrid for both new generations and veteran viewers. Paula Newsome was now the director of the Casino City crime lab, with workers unknown to the public such as Matt Lauria and Mandeep Dhillon, but cast members from the original series also made an appearance.
In its premiere season, for example, it featured Jorja Fox and William Petersen reprising the roles of Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom. Also there were Paul Guifoyle as Jim Brass and Wallace Langham as David Hodges. In the second, Marg Helgenberger joined as Catherine Willows.
And, for the record, the move had not gone badly this season: with audiences above 4 million in its live broadcast, the third season had improved the data of the second. The good performance of other content in CBS primetime, however, forced the channel to make the decision: as is customary, the least viewed or least profitable content must be canceled to introduce new productions to the schedule.
The original CSI had been a milestone in television history. It was a series of murders centered on the crime laboratory that, at first, no one took seriously: in the United States it was sent to Fridays, the night with less faithful viewers. That it managed to be the tenth most watched series on American television with its first season and in such a complicated programming gap was something that not even CBS, the channel that broadcast it, expected.
Thus it was sent to Thursdays with a cast that included William Petersen, Jorja Fox, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads and Paul Guilfoyle. In the third season it was already the most watched primetime series. In the fifth season he had more than 30 million viewers in front of the television. It was a phenomenon that gave rise to different spin-offs: one set in Miami, another in New York and, when the franchise was in the doldrums, another called Cyber.
