If you’re under the impression that TNT does comedy, then you’re terrible at understanding things. TNT is drama – so much so that their website is TNTDrama.com – and they’ve announced renewals for three of their biggest hits. Freshman action series The Last Ship, the law-and-justice drama Major Crimes and the sci-fi thriller Falling Skies are all officially coming back for another season, though it will be the last trip for one of them.
Falling Skies, currently in the middle of Season 4, will return to TNT in 2015 for its fifth and final season. Or, as TNT president and head of programming Michael Wright put it in the press release, the series “has begun an ambitious and thrilling story arc this summer as it sets the stage for next year’s climactic final season.” The network ordered ten more episodes of Falling Skies, which is in its first year under new showrunner David Eick. This season started out with a time jump and new plot direction, and it appears viewers are happy with it, as it’s averaging over 5.5 million viewers (after taking into account the Live+7 latecomers), with almost half of that in the key adult demographics.
But if we’re talking about big ratings, we’re talking about big boats, and The Last Ship has been quite a hit for the network. It has averaged over 7.2 million Live+7 viewers, making it the #1 basic cable scripted series of the summer within its demographics. Obviously bolstered by these numbers and the positive word of mouth, TNT has upped the Season 2 episode count to 13, three more than its ten-episode first season. (Season 1’s fifth episode airs on July 27.) Will there be enough mystery, intrigue and explosions for Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra and Adam Baldwin to make it through a whole new apocalyptic season? I’m guessing yes, with Michael Bay as an executive producer.
Currently cruising through its third season, Major Crimes is also enjoying strong ratings, hitting right around 7 million viewers with the Live+7 numbers. The quasi-procedural will get 15 episodes in Season 4, up from its current total of ten. As the LAPD Police Captain Sharon Raydor, Mary McDonnell is one of the strongest female characters on cable, and you can bet her life is going to get even more complicated in the next year.
These shows and their renewals are fine and dandy, but I’m waiting to see just how good Sean Bean is in TNT's upcoming crime drama Legends. I wonder how many episodes it’ll make it through before getting a second season.
