Many shows that premiered in the fall are about to go on a winter hiatus soon if they haven’t already, and as the seasons change it’s a good time to take our official third look at the TV landscape.
CBS isn’t ready to let go of Code Black just yet. The Marcia Gay-Harden medical procedural has received a five-episode back order, bringing its season 1 episode count to 18. Sure, it’s not a standard Back 9, but any sort of back order these days is a major sign of confidence from a network.
NBC is head over heels for Blindspot. Previously, the big ratings performer starring Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton was granted a full season order and was handed an extra episode maxing its season 1 episode count to 23. NBC has no plans to put the kibosh on this thing. In fact, the Peacock network has gone so far as renewing the crime drama for a second season! The net is also happy with Dick Wolf’s offerings; Chicago Fire and its spinoff Chicago P.D. will also be returning for fifth and fourth seasons, respectively, next TV season. And there’s the dramedy that just keeps chugging: The Mysteries of Laura headlined by Debra Messing has been given the greenlight to pump out three additional episodes in its second season; that ups its current season’s episode count to 16.
ABC clearly holds its comedic Wednesday night lineup in high regard. The Middle, The Goldbergs, and black-ish are all seeing episode count bumps to 24 half-hour installments. Modern Family is conspicuously missing from this list, but rest assured that it too will more than likely follow suit. Elsewhere, Tuesday night comedy Fresh off the Boat nabbed a full season order plus the two episode increase bringing its final season 2 tally to 24 eps. Following all of this good news, I’ve saved a sour one for last. The alphabet network is the first to make an official cancellation among the major nets this season and the loser is Wicked City. The incredibly low-rated serial killer drama has been pulled from the schedule after airing only three episodes.
Over at CBS’ sister network The CW, freshman Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and sophomore iZombie have been allotted an additional five episodes. This increases their episode counts to 18 and 19, respectively.
No surprises here: FX wants more American Horror Story and Fargo. The two critically acclaimed series from Ryan Murphy and Noah Hawley, respectively, are solid performers for the cable station and their anthological nature fosters exciting creative overhauls every year.