NBC’s new detective series Aquarius has quietly done decently in the ratings, and the network is giving the show a boost by renewing the series on Thursday. There are still eight episodes left to air during Season 1, but the David Duchovny-starrer is most definitely set to return for Season 2, with a new slew of episodes hitting the schedule next TV season (likely in 2016, as NBC has already released its schedule for the fall).
Aquarius officially hit the schedule back in May, with a premiere that drew more than 5.6 million total viewers. Not only were the premiere ratings pretty high for a summer TV program, Aquarius was notable for another reason, and it wasn’t just because the former star of The X-Files was involved. In April, the network announced it would be taking a page from Netflix and dropping all 13 episodes of Season 1 of Aquarius on the internet to make them widely available for binge-watching. NBC notes that the binge-watching has been a pretty big success, and that Aquarius is the second most-watched premiere ever on NBC.com and the NBC app, losing out only to the wildly popular The Blacklist. Between the binge-watching and the ratings, Aquarius has been a summer hit for the network.
Aquarius has received mixed reviews from critics, but there’s no denying its premise is intriguing. The drama follows a detective and narcotics officer looking into the case of a missing girl. They eventually run into the infamous Charles Manson, who has already been luring girls into his commune. The tumultuous landscape of the sixties, including drugs and racial and generation gaps, not to mention the Vietnam War, have also come into play during Season 1 of the series.
The Aquarius renewal comes just a couple of days after NBC dropped the axe on its critically acclaimed series Hannibal. Obviously, the new period drama hasn’t earned the same sort of acclaim Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal has amassed, but it’s certainly doing better in the ratings. (Hannibal’s last few episodes have featured less than 2 million total viewers tuning in). It’s common for a show to see a downswing in viewers as it ages, but hopefully for Season 2, Aquarius will continue to be a sound ratings bet for the peacock network.
Aquarius isn’t the only new program NBC has scheduled for the summer of 2015. The network has also premiered reality program The Island and has new comedies Mr. Robinson and The Carmichael Show set to premiere in August. You can check out the rest of the upcoming summer premieres here.
