‘Line of Fire’ gets full Season 1 order at NBC — here’s how many episodes are there
NBC has commissioned five more episodes of ‘Line of Fire,’ extending the first season of its Monday night family drama to a full 18 episodes, according to Deadline. The pickup comes just over a month after the series debuted on September 21. The pilot reportedly scored a cross-platform average of more than 14 million viewers, and the second episode jumped the demo rating by 47% in live-plus-same-day ratings. The October 19 episode, ‘Cul-de-Sac,’ has the highest demo rating of the season, according to network and Nielsen rankings.
Earlier this month, the network picked up five more scripts for the series. At the time, Lisa Katz (NBC and Peacock Scripted Content President) told Deadline that 18 episodes felt like the right number. “I think for this show, given the storytelling, 18 feels the sweet spot, and also with what our Monday night schedule looks like and where the opportunities are. So that would be the goal,” she added. Interestingly, the pickup makes ‘Line of Fire’ the first series in this season’s crop of new shows to have its order extended, even though CBS ordered 20 episodes of ‘Cupertino’ upfront. The season originally ordered 13 episodes, and its first three episodes delivered 5.06 million viewers on average after seven days of linear viewing, up 70% from their same-day average of 2.98 million.
Joshua Safran (‘Gossip Girl,’ ‘Quantico’) created the series, which revolves around a family that works in different areas of federal law enforcement and gets caught up in a deadly conspiracy. It was originally developed under the title ‘Protection,’ before NBC picked up the series for a full season in May as ‘Line of Fire,’ with the trailer dropping on August 20. Peter Krause (‘Parenthood’) stars as Secret Service agent Mike Hollingsworth, with Hope Davis (‘Succession’) as his wife Jane, a U.S. Marshal. Additionally, this marks Krause’s first appearance since leaving ‘9-1-1’ as fire captain Bobby Nash. The actor has been working on television for nearly 40 years, with notable roles in ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Sports Night.’ In the series, Kat Cunning (‘Rap Sh!t’) plays Clare, Tommy O’Brien (‘grown-ish’) plays Micah Jr., and Taylor Bloom (‘American Horror Story’) plays Russ, with Charlie Barnett (‘Chicago Fire’) also starring.
It should be noted that the show’s premise is based on real-life events, as the series is loosely inspired by the experience of executive producer Jenna Bush Hager, who grew up around Secret Service agents after her father George W. Bush and grandfather George H.W. Bush were presidents. She is one of the show’s executive producers along with Safran and Ben Spector, and Universal Television produces the series. The episodes air Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC following ‘The Voice’ and are available the next day on Peacock, with previous episodes available to stream on NBC.com and the NBC app.
