CANCELLATION ALERT: CSI: NY, Rules of Engagement, Vegas, Golden Boy

The ax swung on four CBS shows but nothing was too surprising as veterans CSI: NY and Rules of Engagement and newbies Vegas and Golden Boy were cancelled.

For the second year in a row, a long-running CSI show got the ax. After CSI: Miami was cancelled last year, CSI: NY was this year after nine seasons and 197 episodes. The show was the final one of the CSI trio to premiere and held the Wednesday 10pm slot for many years until it was moved to Friday in 2010. It managed to survive for three years on Friday night but CBS tends to phase out its older, modest performing dramas and there just isn't room for CSI: NY. This cancellation leaves the original CSI as the only CSI left standing and it will head into its 14th season in the fall.

The show with nine lives finally ran out of luck as Rules of Engagement was cancelled after seven seasons and 100 episodes. You might notice that Rules ran only two years less than CSI: NY but had nearly 100 less episodes. That's because the show only had a full season once in its seven years as it was always CBS' backup choice but a solid utility player wherever it was put, whether on Mondays or Thursdays. The 100 episodes it had this year got it to a good number for syndication but I think CBS will miss having this show available to plug in wherever they need it. However, with more comedies ordered it became expendable so it will say goodbye on Monday, May 20 with the series finale.

Two freshmen drama were also cancelled which means CBS has only one freshman returning - Elementary. Period drama Vegas and cop drama Golden Boy were cancelled after sharing the Tuesday 10pm slot this season. Vegas premiered to high expectations thanks to a stellar cast led by Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis but it was very old skewing and a real disappointment for CBS. It was supposed to be temporarily benched for Golden Boy but then was ultimately moved to Fridays for the rest of the season. Golden Boy took over and did mostly worse than Vegas in the slot though it had to follow repeats often. They join Made in Jersey as one and done freshman dramas for CBS.