That's true actually.

It's something that will hopefully only remain in development hell.

The idea of a Kate Middleton clone as spy fills me with dread,

If they actually got Kate i reckon it would have a good chance of being developed

Blindspot renewed for a second season.

I had a feeling all day there was going to be news over a renewal regarding a big show.

Good news about Blindspot.

Premature but hardly a shock

Here's hoping the ratings remain as high as they for the next 16 episodes.

Now there is a renewal, I can watch it now.

I wonder if we will get any more early renewals. The CW handed out early renewals last december.

NBC order three extra episodes for The Mysteries Of Laura. Season 2 will now have a total of 16 episodes.

Stylistically, it's a lot like the recent Digital Spy re-vamp, LOL!

Chicago Fire/PD both renewed.

If NBC announce anymore, i expect renewals for Blacklist and SVU. Blacklist is a season away from syndication so it's a no brainer,

Yes!.

Thanks LM for the update. Liking this show a lot, so really chuffed it has been renewed so early. Strange though that NBC have already renewed PD & Fire.

Off topic - what is syndication?

Syndication is when a television show can be sold to other television channels to air on. Any television show regardless of how many episodes can be sold into syndication. But channels are more likely to spend much more money on a show that has 88 episodes or more so they air it at least 5 times a week. A great example would be the endless repeats of Friends on Comedy Central and The Simpsons on Sky One. This means the show can make money in the long run.

Thanks.

Great information thankyou, i never knew about this

You are both welcome

Brilliant news, NBC are rocking.

Reading that article about shows being cancelled much later because of the change in how people watch shows. We know more and more prefer to download shows than watch live myself included. What I'd like to know is how are networks gonna know which shows are doing badly if less people are watching live. I assume they have other ways to find out how well they're doing or bad in some cases. Do like the idea that shows should only have maximum of 13 eps. I think eventually that will happen and we won't see 24 eps for shows.

Just to add for those interested...

Syndication now plays a major role in a lot of renewal decisions now that it’s more common practice that the network broadcasting the programme is also responsible for producing the programme (or they are related/have the same parent company etc).

Essentially this means that if a programme is made and broadcast by the same company and makes it to a 3rd season then a 4th season is almost guaranteed. For example, The Blacklist is made by NBC Universal and is broadcast on NBC. It’s currently in its 3rd season, so NBC are extremely likely to renew it as it’ll make it syndication-worthy (and therefore most profitable) for NBC Universal. If it was made by 20th Century Fox for example, then NBC may be less likely to renew it as they have no vested interest long term (although if they didn’t 20th Century Fox would probably try and find another network for reasons I’ve already stated). As it turns out The Blacklist is doing well in the ratings regardless.

This happens a lot with CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox shows due to their connections with CBS Television, NBC Universal, ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox accordingly.

Some shows work with larger episode orders, while some don't. It can depend on the genre or the nature of the show.

Thanks for explaining further

I'm a bit 'meh' about the Chicago shows being renewed.

I've gone off PD, and Med looks like it is going to be very insular and emotive, one of the main problems with Dick Wolf shows IMO.

Fire is just about keeping me going but that is mainly because I like the cast.

But I can see this trilogy of shows lasting 6 or 7 seasons.

The Chicago Med backdoor pilot they aired was essentially a remake of an episode that Grey's anatomy did back in it's second or third season. It was really poor and you never even got a chance to get to know the characters. Fingers crossed the actual series is an improvement.

PD is just a run of the mill cop show. That's all it is.

Chicago Fire is nothing groundbreaking but you don't see many shows about firefighters and I like the soap opera elements of it as well. Plus it's one of the few shows from NBC i like.

Is it fair to say that networks still prefer to syndicate a show with 'stand alone' episodes over one with long story arcs that don't make sense of their own? Or is that a trend that has now ended?

It's a trend that seems to have died in television at the moment, but it's still what they prefer in terms of syndication. That's why sitcoms like Friends, crime dramas like Law and Order and Sci-fi shows like Star Trek have done so incredible in syndication and still continue to do well. Because they are not serialized and anyone can jump in from any episode without the fear of watching the previous episodes to know what it is going on. A show like The Blacklist won't do well in syndication because even thought there is a different crime in each episode, it's still largely serialized with it's story arcs. . A show like The Goldbergs will likely be popular in syndication in years to come because of it's standalone nature. Sitcoms and animated shows are largely standalone anyway.