Fox Renews 'The Following' for Second Season

Net also hands out renewals to Tuesday comedies 'Raising Hope,' 'New Girl,' 'Mindy Project'

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/4/2013 3:00:00 PM

Fox on Monday gave out renewals to a quartet of its shows for 2013-14, including its midseason entry The Following.

Like its first season, The Following's second season pickup is for 15 episodes. Premiering to a 3.2 rating with adults 18-49 and 10.4 million viewers on Jan. 21, the Kevin Bacon drama has averaged a 2.9 rating over its first six episodes.

"From the very beginning, we felt Kevin Williamson and Marcos Siega had created a high-quality, edge-of-your-seat drama that could break from the pack, and it is exciting to see the audience responding," said Kevin Reilly, chairman of entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Co. "Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy have given us two of the most compelling characters on television and the entire cast is incredible. I'm delighted to have this thrill ride continue on Fox for another season."

Fox also handed out renewals to its Tuesday comedies New Girl, Raising Hope and freshman The Mindy Project.

The renewals of Fox's female-skewing comedies, which have failed to draw large audiences but have done well with young women (New Girl is top comedy with women 18-34), come after Reilly made some candid remarks during January's TCA press tour, where he acknowledged his frustrations with the comedy block's low performance. Fox had already canceled Ben and Kate, the other newcomer on that night. For its first 16 episodes, Mindy Project has averaged a 1.6 rating with adults 18-49.

"We love working with these talented producers and casts who, week after week, create some of the funniest work on television," added Reilly. "These shows are creatively vibrant, they have established a loyal and passionate audience and they will continue to define and grow the Fox comedy brand next season and beyond."

The Following and Mindy Project join The CW's Arrow as freshman series to get a second season. CW's The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, along with CBS' How I Met Your Mother and Fox's Bones have also gotten renewals.