ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 6 episode order trimmed, but to what?

The other shoe has now predictably dropped on the upcoming sixth season of “Scandal.”

Following the news yesterday that series star Kerry Washington was expecting her second child, we are now now hearing per TVLine that the upcoming sixth season will run for 16 episodes, a decrease of five from the season 5 order of 21. This is not the first time that ABC has shortened the show’s episode order in order to accommodate the actress; two years ago, it was trimmed from 22 episodes to 18 when she was expecting her first child.

Ultimately, timing is much of the reason for the decrease this time, based on when Washington is expecting to give birth. Ultimately, this show is a little different than a show like “The Blacklist,” which has managed to go on without Megan Boone in the cast for a couple of weeks. (We’re assuming that the Liz Keen character is not actually dead.) We don’t think “Scandal” works without Olivia Pope, so ABC is doing the right thing in this circumstance.

Ultimately, we don’t really think that this is even bad news when you think for a minute about how more often than not, this show tends to actually be better when it has shorter seasons. It gives it a more consistent narrative, and we actually think it works better like this than it does during stories-of-the-week. That format tends to work better when you’ve got a show like “Castle” that relies a little bit more on humor than big dramatic moments with its characters. That is more of “Scandal’s” bread and butter at this point.

If you do want to read more about Kerry’s recent pregnancy, be sure to head over to the link here! Also, sign up over at this link to secure some other TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)