South Korean-American Comedian Ken Jeong's Comedy Sitcom "Dr. Ken" Given The Full Back 9 Order, Puts Show On Full-season 22-episode Run
ABC's freshman comedic fare "Dr. Ken", starring South Korean-American actor Ken Jeong, has been given the full season order, adding 9 more episodes to the show's original 13-episode run.
"Dr. Ken" racked a solid 6.7 million viewers and a 1.5 rating when it premiered on Oct. 2, and has maintained its strong viewership ever since, TV Line notes Tuesday.
Deadline writes on the same day "Dr. Ken" has held on to a 1.3 Live+Same Day rating among adult viewers ranging from 18 to 49 years old, securing its 100% "Last Man Standing" lead-in. The show is improving the 8:30 PM time slot by 25% from a year-to-year basis. It has also tagged as ABC's highest-rated comedy series in that time period in the last three years.
"Dr. Ken" is the first comedy series in the 2015-2016 broadcast season that has been picked up for a full-season order.
Together with "Dr. Ken", newbie TV shows "Quantico" (ABC) and "Blindspot" have also been ordered for a full season.
The show stars doctor-turned-comedian Ken Jeong ("Community", "Hangover") who plays the role of a health maintenance organization (HMO) doctor who is juggling his job, marriage and children. Suzy Nakamura, Jonathan Slavin, Kate Simses, Tisha Campbell Martin, Albert Tsai, Dave Foley and Krista Marie co-star with Jeong.
Ken Jeong has been practicing as physician until 1997 after receiving his M.D. from the University of North California at Chapel Hill in 1995, Cinema Blend notes Oct. 21. While he was still practicing medicine, Jeong was already performing stand-up comedy and later made appearances on "MadTV", "Two and a Half Men", and "The Office".
In 2009, Jeong took the role of Senor Ben Chang on NBC's "Community" and in the same year he played the villain Leslie Chow in the blockbuster hit "The Hangover". Jeong reprised his role as Chow in the movie's second and third installments.
