One of the most talked about shows of the fall season, Arrow has managed to shoot for expectations as it has managed to find incredible success on Wednesday nights. Though there are some formidable foes in its timeslot, the superhero series has managed to take a pre-established comic book icon and take a darker spin in the hopes of creating a powerful drama worth watching once a week. Now after making history for "the little network that could" The CW, it seems we can expect more villains and hopefully a few additional heroes to assemble on the hit show as Oliver Queen will be fighting for justice well into 2013.
Lead actor Stephen Amell tweeted the news this morning, saying "Best way to start a Monday? Getting picked up for your back nine episodes. Thwick. #Arrow." This expands the total number of episodes ordered for Arrow from the regular 13 run to a total of 22, which will air until May of 2013.
The CW confirmed the pick up shortly afterwards as The CW president Mark Pedowitz released the following statement, “Our strategy of rolling out our new fall schedule later in the year really paid off for The CW on several levels, especially with ARROW, which was the network’s most watched premiere in three years and is one of the breakout hits of the new season. I’m proud of the quality of ARROW and I’m happy we’ll be able to share more of it with viewers.”
The pick up really doesn't come as too much of a surprise. Arrow had the largest series premiere since the pilot of The CW's #1 series The Vampire Diaries, managing to rake in a total of 4.14 million viewers. The second week, viewing only fell by 7% for one of the smallest week-by-week drops for a new series this season thus far. Also the ratings success is compared to a very harsh start for other nights of the week for The CW, as the season premieres for both Gossip Girl and 90210 failed to even top 1 million viewers. Gossip Girl has stayed in the 700K range for both new episodes so far this season but has nothing to sweat as it finishes out its six year run.
With plenty of buzz still surrounding the series due to comic book characters coming to life and appearing within the next few weeks, the devoted fanbase surrounding the series has certainly been a major factor. Deathstroke, Deadshot, The Huntress, The Royal Flush Gang and other DC Comics characters are scheduled to appear in upcoming episodes, with some critics calling the hit a perfect successor to The CW's departed superhero drama Smallville. Only time will tell whether or not that is the case, but at least for the time being we have a full year to see whether or not Starling City's hero will be slinging arrows for an extended period of time.
Arrow airs every Wednesday at 8PM.
