‘The Mysteries of Laura’ gets more season 2 scripts, ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ a full season

While there are some shows that get picked up for a second season, you cannot assume that it is automatically for a full season. This is the situation that both “The Mysteries of Laura” and “Fresh Off the Boat” got themselves into thanks to concerns over their ratings, but we have some more news now on each of them.

Let’s start with the Debra Messing procedural show. After a few tweaks including more of a focus on the cases versus family life, NBC has ordered five more scripts. Messing herself confirmed this on Twitter, but one thing we would say is that this does not necessarily guarantee these episodes will air. It just means that the network is considering the option. In this case, we do think they will get made; while this show is hardly a ratings titan in the 18-49 demographic, it is fairly consistent and we think that the network likes to market the entire Wednesday-night lineup around Messing, Mariska Hargitay, and Sophia Bush.

In turning over to “Fresh Off the Boat,” the ABC comedy officially now has a 22-episode order. This was almost a given when we saw that it was actually performing better than its lead-in “The Muppets” last week. It’s remarkably consistent, funny, and different from most other comedies out there. In an age where so many shows in this genre are failing, any that consistently draws more than a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic has a good chance of sticking around for a while.

We’ll give you some more news about renewals / cancellations / episode counts as time goes by. October is typically a busy time for these sort of announcements.

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