‘Blood & Oil’ Order Cut To 10 Episodes By ABC
Another new drama series is seeing its original 13-episode order trimmed. ABC has downsized the pickup of Blood & Oil to 10 episodes. The series is currently filming Episode 8 and will wrap production after completing its tenth episode. Blood & Oil will end its freshman run in December and will remain in its Sunday 9 PM slot, at least for now.
The soapy drama, set in the oil fields of North Dakota, launched with a soft 1.4 Live+Same Day rating in adults 18-49. Since then, it has slipped to a 1.3, 0.9 and 0.9. The sprawling series airs in one of the toughest time slots on television at the moment, Sunday 9 PM, as it faces both NBC’s Sunday Night Football and the AMC’s juggernaut The Walking Dead. Its DVR lift has been modest to OK, in the 30 percent range in Live+3.
Blood & Oil revolves around a young couple (Chace Crawford, Rebecca Rittenhouse) who move to North Dakota where a local oil baron (Don Johnson) takes the guy under his wing. The series, from ABC Studios, underwent a showrunner change as it had faced production challenges filming on location in Utah.
In addition to Blood & Oil, the 13-episode orders of Fox’s Minority Report and NBC’s The Player were cut down to 10 and 9 episodes, respectively.