After NBC made a slew of pickups last week, CBS, The CW and ABC shortly followed suit, giving full-season orders to many of their shows and at least ordering additional scripts for the rest.
CBS kicked things off last Thursday by announcing full season pickups of all five of its freshman series: "Mike & Molly," "The Defenders," "$#*! My Dad Says," "Hawaii Five-0" and "Blue Bloods." The network has a perfect record this season extending all of its new shows. Yet one or more are unlikely to make it to a second season, since something will have to get the axe in order for CBS to have space for new material next year. It's certainly an enviable position to be in, though — NBC, in comparison, has had to renew even some of its poorest performers, like "Chase," just to keep timeslots full.
The CW also renewed all of its new shows this season, but in this case, "all" just means two: cheerleading-centric "Hellcats" and sexy spy-drama "Nikita." The network also gave a full-season order to long-running "One Tree Hill." The notable absence of a pickup for "Life Unexpected" probably means the series's current sophomore season will be its last.
ABC rounded out the pickup notices on Monday by announcing full seasons of "No Ordinary Family" and "Better with You." "Detroit 1-8-7" also received an order for five additional episodes, and veteran series "Brothers & Sisters" got bumped from 18 to 22 episodes. ABC couldn't claim a perfect season, though, as it later announced that courtroom drama "The Whole Truth" was effectively canceled and would only be producing its originally ordered 13 episodes.
In non-pickup-related news, I just got caught up on FX's "Terriers," and it's terrific. Contrary to popular belief, it is not, in fact, about dogs. Instead, Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James play private investigators who have a knack for getting knee-deep into trouble but, like the titular canines, never give up.
The two leads have stellar chemistry, and the supporting cast is compelling. The cases each week vary in how engaging they are, but the character work is always top-notch. It would be a shame if the series didn't get a second season, but based on current ratings, that's the direction in which things are heading. So watch: Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.
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by Ben Phelps
