Things weren't looking certain for ABC's new series The Neighbors when the network gave the Wednesday night comedy a script order rather than picking up the show for a full season. But it looks like ABC has decided to move forward with Dan Fogelman's comedy, and there's also good news for ABC's returning drama Scandal.
The Neighbors stars Jami Gertz, Lenny Venito and Simon Templeman and follows a family that moves into a gated community in New Jersey only to discover that the place is largely inhabited by aliens disguised as humans. Earlier this month, we learned that ABC had given the series an order for 3 more scripts. Today, Deadline reports that ABC has decided to pick up the back nine episodes, which will take the comedy to 22 episodes for its first season. The comedy started out strong with 9.22 million viewers for its premiere, but that was when it premiered after an episode of Modern Family. It has since moved to its regular timeslot of 8:30 p.m. Without the Modern Family lead-in, the show hasn't fared quite as well, but wedged between The Middle and Modern Family, the numbers have inched up from 6.32 million viewers for its second episode to nearly 7 million tuning in for last week's Halloween episode. It seems the script order and the show's slow growth managed to earn the show ABC's confidence.
Meanwhile, ABC has also given Shonda Rhimes' Scandal a back-nine order for its second season. The series, which stars Kerry Washington, premiered Season 2 to 6.74 million viewers with a 13-episode order. Those numbers have slipped down a bit since then, with last week's episode earning 6.11 million viewers. Hopefully, those numbers will level off and not slip further. In the meantime, fans can rest assured that the show will be around for a full second season.
