“Friday Night Lights” has scored a second season from NBC, reports Variety. The network on Thursday also firmed up its drama plans for next season, giving the go-ahead to four new hour-long shows: “The Bionic Woman,” “Chuck,” Journeyman” and “Life.”
Season to date, “Friday Night Lights” has averaged only a 2.3 rating/6 share and 6.1 million viewers overall. With those low numbers, an order for “Friday Night Lights” wasn’t guaranteed.
But NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly has championed the show as part of NBC’s “first be best, then be first” mantra — and the network already renewed another highly praised but low-rated series, the Tina Fey comedy “30 Rock.”
As for the new pickups, “The Bionic Woman,” from executive producers David Eick, Glen Morgan, Jason Smilovic and Michael Dinner, stars Michelle Ryan as a woman remade into a techno wonder (on a show itself remade from a 1970s hit). NBC Universal TV Studio produces.
Josh Schwartz is behind “Chuck,” a spy comedy/drama that stars Zachary Levi as a regular guy who accidentally learns government secrets. Warner Bros. TV produces; Schwartz and McG exec produce.
“Journeyman,” from 20th Century Fox TV, centers on a man (Kevin McKidd) who travels through time to right wrongs. Kevin Falls and Alex Graves executive produce.
“Life” stars Damian Lewis as a wrongly imprisoned cop who decides to take his old job after he’s released from prison. NBC Universal TV Studio is behind the show, exec produced by Rand Ravich and Far Shariat.
