Rookie Blue Lands Early Renewal

TORONTO/LOS ANGELES/LONDON: ABC and Canwest have renewed the freshman cop drama Rookie Blue, an E1 Entertainment and Thump production, just three weeks after its premiere.

The series has garnered a combined weekly average of 8.5 million viewers on ABC in the U.S. and Canada’s Global Television. The second season is currently in development, moving into production in Toronto later this summer. The series was developed by Thump and produced in partnership with E1 Entertainment. It’s executive produced by Tassie Cameron (Flashpoint), Ilana Frank (The Eleventh Hour, Would Be Kings), Noreen Halpern (Hung, Haven), John Morayniss (Hung, Haven) and David Wellington (The Eleventh Hour, Would Be Kings).

"We’re very pleased that the show has connected with viewers, especially considering the challenge of finding an audience in the summer," said Quinn Taylor, the senior VP of movies, miniseries and acquisitions at ABC Entertainment Group, "and thrilled to pick it up for a second season."

“The creative troika of Tassie, David and Ilana is the secret behind the out-of-the-gate success of Rookie Blue,” commented Noreen Halpern, the president of dramatic programming at E1 Television. “They tell heartfelt, immersive human stories burnished with a sexy, glossy pop sheen. We’re thrilled that the stars seem to have aligned on this project, and that Canwest and ABC have been such incredible partners.”