'Blindspot' Virginia Sherwood/NBC
The freshman hit, joined by three Dick Wolf-produced series, will now have a total 23 episodes this season.
NBC may be shaving off episodes from freshman comedies, but it's heading in the opposite direction with several dramas.
The network has tacked on an additional episode to the current seasons of first-year breakout Blindspot and Dick Wolf's trio of Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Law & Order: SVU — bringing their respective episode counts to 23.
NBC was the first network to order a full-season of a new series when it added the traditional back-nine to Blindspot. The series has been an exceptional performer, both on Monday nights and with delayed viewing, averaging a 3.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 12.4 million viewers. (As for the the others, all have workhorse status on the network's otherwise football and Voice-driven lineup.)
Adding more hours of originals to the 2015-16 midseason is a different track than the one NBC is taking with comedies. The network recently cut the orders for comedies Superstore and Telenovela to 10 episodes a piece, with insiders pointing to inventory. Thursday drama The Player and Friday comedy Truth Be Told also saw their initial orders shortened, though that can be attributed to low ratings.
NBC seems to have done the most tinkering with midseason plans this early in the game, though Fox did add episodes to its winter comedy Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life.
