CSI: Vegas’ Paula Newsome Breaks Silence on ‘Surprising’ Cancellation: ‘It’s a Good Run; It Should Be More’
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CSI: Vegas lead Paula Newsome is now ready to open up about CBS’ decision to cancel the CSI franchise’s latest entry after just three seasons.
CBS cancelled both CSI: Vegas and its onetime lead-in So Help Me Todd in one fell swoop on April 20. Newsome, though active on social media, had yet to squarely address the sad news. But as part of an in-depth conversation with TVLine ahead of Sunday’s Season 3 (now series) finale, the actress shared how she got the news, and her immediate reaction.
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“I got the news from my showrunner [Jason Tracey], and I was very surprised,” Newsome told TVLine, “because our ratings are so good.”
Season-to-date, CSI: Vegas is averaging north of 5.9 million total viewers, up 4% in audience from its Season 2 numbers. Alas, out of the 14 original dramas that CBS has aired this TV season, the Sin City procedural ranks last in viewers. And “America’s Most-Watched Network,” as previously reported, had very difficult calls to make this Upfront season.
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“Our numbers were much higher than a lot of shows on other networks that had been picked up, so that was very surprising, but I know the business is tough,” Newsome noted, before launching into a thoughtful metaphor.
“The truth about part of what we do as actors is we sometimes have to ‘wait in the hallway’ [between roles], and it’s about enjoying the time in the hallway,” she started. “Before I got CSI: Vegas, two minutes before that call I didn’t know a thing about it! Before I got the call for Spider-Man [No Way Home, where she played an MIT bigwig], I didn’t know anything about it! There’s always time in the hallway, and the most important thing is to enjoy that time, because something is always coming. So make sure that when you have the time off, enjoy it. Travel, relax, work out more.”
Newsome also takes some solace in the fact that she was the lead on a broadcast-TV show for three seasons, which in an increasingly unpredictable and volatile TV climate isn’t too shabby.
“[In the past] a show with our numbers would be on for a couple more seasons, no question,” posited the veteran of series such as Chicago Med, Barry and Women’s Murder Club. “But yeah, it’s a good run. It should be more. I’m very proud of what we did.”
Heading into Sunday’s finale, CSI: Vegas left Newsome’s Maxine Roby in quite the cliffhanger predicament, having been caught snooping around the hidden lab where a tech titan (The Mentalist‘s Owain Sebastian Yeoman) has his creepy, AI-driven robots “hacking” DNA. It isn’t spoiling anything to say that the CSI lab boss will use her considerable intellect to make the best of a potentially deadly situation.
Indeed, when asked what she loved most about her character, Newsome is quick to say, “She was so multifaceted. She was smart, she was warm, she was funny… All of those things. All of those things.”
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