Designated Survivor and Speechless Land Full Season Orders at ABC
Carissa Pavlica
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ABC is getting in on the action of ensuring their more popular new shows continue to score viewers by handing out full season orders today.
Designated Survivor and Speechless have both earned full 22 episode pickups.
The new drama, Designated Survivor, features Kiefer Sutherland as an improbable President of the United States after the entire cabinet is killed off in what appears to be an act of war.
Speechless is a comedy about a family with a special needs child as they deal with the ups and downs of trying to ensure he's treated live every other little boy.
They join fellow freshman series This Is Us that was given a full season pickup earlier this week.
“Designated Survivor and Speechless are two of the most critically acclaimed new shows of the fall season,” ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said.
“We’re very proud of the creative excellence in front of and behind the camera, and are thrilled to be giving our audience more episodes.”
Designated Survivor showed a bit of drop in its second week ratings despite an outpouring of approval for the premiere.
It's interesting, because in a time when viewers adamant they have less faith in the networks not to pull the rug out from under them, and therefore don't start watching a show until it's given a full season or a renewal, network have been reticent in past years to do that.
At this time last year, we were hearing about extra episodes being ordered for freshman series, but that's not the confidence viewers look for from networks to invest their time into a new program.
With this pickup, especially for Designated Survivor, which is highly serialized, we can see if viewers tune back in for week three knowing it will be around for at least the full season to deliver a satisfying story.
Designated Survivor, though, has done well in the ratings so far, building upon its lead-in, black-ish and scoring well ahead of last season's Nashville.
Speechless premiered well and dipped a bit in its second week to highs held by the former slot holder, The Real O'Neals. Not bad at all.
This is good news all around. If you haven't yet seen it, you can start when you watch Designated Survivor online right here at TV Fanatic.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
