‘Designated Survivor,’ ‘Speechless’ handed full seasons by ABC

ABC has spoken, and it certainly feels as though there is some good news for people out there who enjoy “Designated Survivor” and “Speechless”: Both of these shows have joined “This Is Us” on NBC in acquiring full-season orders.

This great news comes on the heels of both shows delivering solid ratings out of the gate; while they both declined in their second weeks on the air, they both have been well-received by viewers and the media. “Speechless” in particular one of our favorite comedies of the season, a comedy that perfectly balances out the cynical and the sweet to make an enjoyable concoction. Each show specifically had nine episodes picked up, which means that they will have as a whole 22-episode seasons.

In a statement confirming the great news, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey had the following to say:

“Designated Survivor and Speechless are two of the most critically acclaimed new shows of the fall season … 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.”

It is nice to see networks jumping on some of these decisions so early, if for no other reason than that it gives us a little bit of a further suggestion that they want to commit to interesting new ideas. In this modern era of hyper-competition, we do earnestly feel like there is hesitation on the part of viewers to check out programming, mostly out of fear that someone is going to come along and cancel it almost right away.

We imagine a few other pickups to come soon across various networks. In particular, we feel like it’s coming for “Bull” on CBS, and if “MacGyver” keeps most of its premiere rating, the same could be said there.