It's not all drama at ABC on Thursday night. The network's slew of late-hour renewals for returning hour-longs -- not to mention more than a few new series orders -- includes freshman comedy The Goldbergs.
That makes it the first half-hour locked for the coming 2014-15 season, though the obligatory greenlight for flagship hit Modern Family and few others won't be far off.
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The semi-autobiographical comedy from showrunner Adam F. Goldberg and exec producer Seth Gordon will be back for a second season thanks to strong support from ABC's Paul Lee and strong DVR gains. The critical darling, which launched to a 3.2 rating in the demo -- the network's top comedy launch in more than a year -- managed to break out from a crowded Tuesday comedy traffic jam despite a mismatched lead-in from comics-themed drama Agents of SHIELD.
Halfway into its first season, it also earned the ratings distinction of besting Fox's New Girl in live-plus-same day showings.
The '80s-set comedy from Sony Pictures Television grows more than 50 percent when factoring in delayed viewing, climbing nearly a point to 2.6 million among adults under 50. For his part, Goldberg has been vocal about support from the network -- he was the only freshman comedy showrunner who didn't have to pitch a back-nine pickup -- and has been campaigning to have the show's sophomore run moved to ABC's Wednesday comedy block.
