Fox Gives Full-Season Pickup to 'New Girl'

Fox has made the first move in the new television season, picking up Zooey Deschanel's New Girl for a full season.

The network has ordered 11 additional episodes of the comedy for a 24-episode season.

“We love the charming Zooey Deschanel and the entire cast, we’re knocked out with the work that [creator] Liz Meriwether and the whole staff is doing and we are really psyched about the upcoming episodes in the pipeline," said Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment at Fox. “It's great that audiences have responded so positively so far and we're confident that even more people will embrace the show – and more comedy on Fox – this season."

New Girl has given Fox a reason to celebrate. In its series debut following Glee, the half-hour comedy outperformed its lead-in, delivering 10.1 million total viewers and was the night's highest-rated program with a 4.8 rating among adults 18 to 49. Its second episode (9.3 million, 4.4) showed its premiere was no fluke, dropping just 8 percent in the key demo.

Guest stars set to appear on the series include Justin Long, playing a music teacher who will be a potential love interest for Deschanel's Jess.

Fox made the New Girl pilot available for viewing prior to the Sept. 20 premiere on multiple websites, including Hulu, iTunes and Fox.com, a trend that several other broadcast and cable networks joined in on at the start of this season. Additionally, the pilot was available on Deschanel's Hello Giggles blog and through video on demand.

The push began Sept. 6, which provided two weeks of conversation and awareness for those who may be interested in jumping into the series.

The next two episodes will air at a special time: "Cece Crashes" and "Naked," with guest star Lake Bell (THR's automotive critic), will be broadcast Wednesday, Oct. 12 and Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 9:30 p.m., respectively.