"The Muppets" Gets Full Season Order!

"The Muppets" has been picked up for full season by ABC!

According to Deadline:

ABC has picked up three more episodes from new comedy series The Muppets, bringing its first-season order to 16 episodes. After big expectations and a strong ratings start, The Muppets has slipped but has done an OK job opening Tuesday night for ABC at 8 PM, with its ratings running on par with lead-out Fresh Off the Boat, which just received a Back 9 order, bringing its Season 2 pickup to a full-season 22.

The Muppets had been earmarked for a limited run. Laying out ABC’s midseason plans at the upfronts, network topper Paul Lee said the idea is that after The Muppetsends its limited run, Fresh Off the Boat would move to 8 PM and used to launch new family comedy The Real O’Neals. Of course, if The Muppets had blown up in the ratings, those plans probably could’ve been adjusted to accomodate more Muppets episodes. 

Season to date, The Muppets still ranks as Tuesday’s highest-rated new TV show among Adults 18-49 (2.6). On average, the freshman show is improving its half-hour for ABC by 69% in Total Viewers (7.6 million) and by 86% in Adults 18-49 (2.6), standing as the net’s strongest performing Tuesday comedy in 4 years. In its most recent airing this week, The Muppets returned against the World Series with an uptick in Adults 18-49 (+8%). 

The Hollywood Reporter, also confirmed that:

The additional three-episode pickup is six shy of the standard back-nine order, with insiders stressing the shortfall is to accommodate the network's midseason fare.

The Muppets, ranks as Tuesday's highest-rated new series among adults 18-49 and has improved the network's Tuesday slot by 69 percent among total viewers versus last season's short-lived Selfie (7.6 million vs. 4.5 million) and 86 percent among adults under 50 (2.6 vs. 1.4).

The Muppets was as ABC's final fall freshman series to get a back-order.