No second chances are coming for So Help Me Todd, CSI: Vegas and NCIS: Hawaii. But good news for CSI fans: there is another iteration in active development.
While speaking to reporters Thursday about the fall season, CBS bosses George Cheeks and Amy Reisenbach acknowledged their “embarrassment of riches” when it came to new and returning shows but added it was “incumbent to keep the schedule fresh and keep the momentum going.”
“We had some tough choices this year,” conceded entertainment president Reisenbach. “Everything came back very strong. There is a cohesive schedule, a flow.”
“Every show is different,” added CBS CEO Cheeks, when reminded how S.W.A.T. was uncanceled at the last minute. “We certainly had a wonderful experience with So Help Me Todd. It was heartbreaking.”
Reisenbach and Cheeks also nixed any possibility of the three dramas enjoying a second life on Paramount+.
Reisenbach did promise more from the world of CSI, though.
“I definitely think that franchise is alive and well and we continue to be in discussions,” she said. “It’s a part of our legacy.”
So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas are the least watched CBS drama series this spring in both linear and multi-platform ratings. In most current linear Nielsen viewership (2/12 to date), CSI: Vegas, which improved its time period, is at #21 among all non-sports broadcast programs with 6.234M viewers and So Help Me Todd at #22 with 6.224M.
The series finale of So Help Me Todd will air May 16 while CSI: Vegas will say goodbye on May 19.
The cancellation of NCIS: Hawai’i was not surprising since it was already on the bubble. Still, there was an effort made to extend the drama’s run for at least an abbreviated fourth and final season, with producers agreeing to a massive budget cut and other concessions to keep the drama going.