We have our first renewal of the 2013-14 TV season, folks. Fox has ordered a second season of the new drama series Sleepy Hollow, which has been a surprisingly strong and steady performer in the ratings rat race. The series premiered to a solid 3.4 rating in the 18-49 demo and 10.05 million viewers, and has shown an impressive hold in the ensuing weeks, with the latest episode nabbing a 3.0 rating and 7.93 million viewers. Our own Allison Keene recapped the first three episodes and called the series “always weird and occasionally wonderful,” so its fans will surely be pleased to hear that a second season is on its way.
Interestingly, Fox appears to be concluding the first season after 13 episodes instead of ordering a back-9, though following the cable model of abbreviated seasons has become more popular on network TV as of late. Hit the jump to read the press release.
Here’s the press release:
FOX AWAKENS SEASON TWO OF
HIT DRAMA SERIES “SLEEPY HOLLOW”
Premiere Episode Surpasses 22 Million Viewers Across Platforms
Next All-New Episode Airs Monday, October 7, on FOX
FOX will delve into a second season of the hit action/adventure series SLEEPY HOLLOW, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.
“The show has proven to be a risk well worth taking – it’s a conceptual blast unlike anything else on television and it all holds together with inventive writing and a fantastic cast,” said Reilly. “I can’t wait for fans to experience what else is in store for this fall and even more of this wild ride into Season Two.”
The series premiere of SLEEPY HOLLOW earned a 5.0/13 rating among Adults 18-49 and drew 13.6 million viewers after three additional days of time-shifted viewing, making it FOX’s most successful fall drama premiere since the debut of “24” in November 2001. In fact, with its encore, post-three-day playback on DVR and VOD, and its streaming on www.Fox.com and www.Hulu.com, the series premiere of SLEEPY HOLLOW has already drawn an audience of more than 22 million. In Week Three, SLEEPY HOLLOW showed increasing retention, delivering a 3.0/8 rating and holding 97% of the prior week's Adults 18-49 delivery.
In the next all-new episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW, “The Lesser Key of Solomon,” airing Monday, Oct. 7 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) and Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) search for Abbie’s estranged sister, Jenny (guest star Lyndie Greenwood), who has escaped from a Sleepy Hollow psychiatric hospital. In a game-changing episode, which includes flashbacks to the real Boston Tea Party, Abbie and Ichabod discover more about the evil they are facing.
SLEEPY HOLLOW is a thrilling mystery-adventure drama series spanning two and a half centuries, in which a resurrected Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) pairs up with a present-day police lieutenant (Nicole Beharie) to save the enigmatic town of Sleepy Hollow – and the world – from unprecedented evil.
From K/O Paper Products in association with 20th Century Fox Television, SLEEPY HOLLOW is co-created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Underworld” and “Total Recall”). The series is executive-produced by Kurtzman, Orci, Wiseman, Mark Goffman, Ken Olin and Heather Kadin. Iscove serves as supervising producer. Wiseman directed the pilot. “Like” SLEEPY HOLLOW on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SleepyHollowFOX. Follow the series on Twitter @SleepyHollowFOX and join the discussion at #sleepyhollow.