NBC’s ‘Revolution,’ ‘Deception’ see season orders shortened

Ready for some surprising news courtesy of NBC? Despite it being the highest-rated new show on TV, the network has made the move to reduce the season order for “Revolution” to just 20 episodes, which means that there will be a little bit less ground to cover when the J.J. Abrams-produced work of science fiction comes back on the air on March 25.

This news was confirmed recently to the Futon Critic, and the reason behind it seems to be actually fairly simple: scheduling. With “Deception” premiering tonight, the network wants to ensure that they have new programming every week now until the end of the May sweeps, and they want “Revolution” to end then rather than to see it stretch into the summer like its companion on Monday nights in “The Voice.” The order for “Deception” has also been cut from 13 to 11 episodes, which means that its entire first season will be in the can before we see the likes of Charlie and Miles back on the small screen again.

While it is a very long wait until “Revolution” returns, NBC defended this move by saying that they would rather have the rest of the season air in consecutive weeks (especially after a strong show) than send it down a pattern where it airs for a week or two, goes into reruns, and then comes back. As risky as this may be, we agree, and the good thing about its competition is that neither “Castle” nor “Hawaii Five-0” are shows that demand you catch every episode to understand the story as a whole.

Did you have a chance to catch the full trailer for “Revolution’s” return to TV? If not, you can watch it just by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: NBC