ABC renews Nashville for 22-episode third season

By Emily St. James | May 10, 2014 | 1:00pm

Aux Features TV

After enduring a long Friday filled with discussion of the finer points of the Tennessee tax code (seriously), ABC has renewed Nashville for a 22-episode third season. Deadline had earlier reported that the network initially wanted only 13 episodes, but the show’s studio, Lionsgate, couldn’t make the financials work with that small of an order, since so much of the series’ budget is made up for by Tennessee tax credits that are getting smaller by the season. (See? Read about television, and you’ll learn about everything.) The show’s renewal was confirmed by Ben Sherwood, co-president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, or, as most of the show’s fans referred to him when passing news of the confirmation around, some guy on Twitter.

Nobody is going to confuse Nashville with one of TV’s best shows, but in its second season, it’s managed to become one of the medium’s more endearingly goofy soaps. Plus, it stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere, both of whom have been nominated by awards bodies for their work on the program. The show’s music also provides an important secondary revenue source, even if it’s not, say, the kind of money-printing factory that the singles from Glee were back in the day.