CSI franchise speculation

The future of the CSI franchise looks pretty bleak. It would appear that any new CSI show will become a thing of the past. This franchise started to crumble when CBS moved around certain shows to time slots that wouldn’t do as well. This slowly started some shows ending. Now, just CSI: Cyber is left. Will it end this coming season? Of course, the answer is yes, unless it can get a serious ratings boost. But you do have to wonder: will they try another CSI spinoff for the 2016-2017 television season? Will the whole franchise end entirely? Let’s take a closer look.

First, let’s get into a history of the franchise itself. A pilot for a TV show called CSI was proposed to different networks. ABC, FOX, and NBC all passed on the pilot before CBS picked it up. When CSI proved to be a success, then CSI: Miami came along with CSI: New York following not long afterwards. Things were looking great for those three series and they were for a long time. But a problem arouse on CBS, a problem that a TV junkie like me was bound to notice. CBS kept having TV shows fail over and over again at the time slots that they were airing at. So, they decided to put CSI: Miami and CSI: New York on terrible time slots. Not surprisingly, their ratings suffered and CSI: Miami was cancelled after airing at the cursed 10/9 Central on Sundays time slot. Friday nights were not good for CSI: New York and after surviving for just one more season after CSI: Miami got cancelled, its end came too.

Now with the original CSI still on the schedule, one could easily believe that there would be another attempt at a spin-off. After a while, CSI: Cyber premiered. While both shows did poorly in the ratings this season, CSI, doomed by its time slot, was the one that was cancelled. While they could have easily cancelled both, they probably thought that one should stay on the air if the other was ending. This is where we can see the end of it all coming up soon. CSI: Cyber will be air next season at the worst possible time for any show to air on CBS. You may think that I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. 10/9 Central on Sundays on CBS is prone to time delays and even preemptions leading to poor ratings. There are a ton of shows that aired at that time slot that eventually got cancelled: 3 Rivers, Cold Case, Without a Trace (but I don’t think that was its most recent time slot before its cancellation), NYC 22, The Unit, and the two CSI shows that I mentioned before. I see no reason that this time slot will ever improve without removing any and all sports from the CBS schedule on Sunday. It’s just going to lead to more cancellations.

Meanwhile, what they are planning on doing with CSI: Cyber, besides putting it in a death slot, doesn’t sound that good for it. Think about it. The main character from CSI (or, the back-up to the first replacement main character) is going to be a character on CSI: Cyber next season. Does that sound right? I don’t think that it will work in the end. Maybe if Ted Denson’s character was a supporting character on CSI would I be okay with it. But CSI: Cyber has a main character already. What role is a different show’s main character supposed to play in this show? It just seems like a strange move and may just be a way of trying to stave off the death of the franchise.

If CSI: Cyber gets cancelled next season, will it lead to the end of this franchise? Will there be some pilot in the future that will lead to a new CSI show? Will the franchise be done for a while? Will it be done forever? I think that there could be some attempts to reboot the franchise in the future. There could even be movies in the future. Will there be theatrical movies? I know that there’s a two hour made for TV movie that will resolve CSI. That will make up for its mediocre season finale. I do wonder why made for TV movies to resolve TV shows don’t happen more often. I wonder if they’ll edit the movie so that it can air in syndication with the rest of the series. I don’t think that the franchise will last must longer. It won’t last if people don’t keep watching it. That point is obvious, I know. So if you don’t see much of this franchise anymore, then you’ll know why. I just thought that I would give you fans (or haters or curious individuals) forewarning about it. The franchise seems doomed to me. It’s unfortunate for some people, but others would like it ending. If it ends, then you read it here first.