There will be no escaping from the dome anytime soon. CBS has renewed its summer hit “Under the Dome” for a second 13-episode season, with Stephen King, on whose novel the series is based, set to write the first episode. The second season will air in the summer of 2014.
The show has been a rare foray into serialized drama for CBS, which has had great success otherwise sticking with very episodic fare — “NCIS” and “The Big Bang Theory” are the top drama and comedy, ratingswise — while most other networks have been moving in another direction.
Asked how long the show could sustain itself with its premise before viewers revolted, CBS’s CEO Leslie Moonves told the crowd at the TCA summer press tour this morning “Why can’t they be under the dome for a long period of time?! This is television! This is science fiction!” He also noted that it’s fundamentally a soap opera — “it’s ‘Dallas’ in the future.”
Pricey for a summer program on CBS, “Under the Dome” was made in part thanks to a deal with Amazon’s Instant Video, who have it exclusively online for subscribers four days after each episode premiered on air.
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