NBC is adding some scripted original inventory, ordering an extra episode each from its strongest drama series, freshman Blindspot and the Dick Wolf trio of Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Law & Order: SVU. The four series’ seasons have now gone up from 22 to 23 episodes.
I actually think it's awkward to randomly add an extra episode to an already full season.
If the showrunners are good at mapping out the entire season already, now they'll have to stretch things out just a bit more. Well, for shows that are somewhat serialized; pretty sure Blindspot applies, SVU doesn't really. Dunno about the others.
A number of shows I liked for awhile went downhill when they clearly had more episodes than they needed to tell their story, and would spend quite awhile doing nothing while waiting for an appropriate time to get to substantial plot again. It's part of why cable shows dominate awards these days; with fewer eps they don't have to stretch things out with piles of filler.
I mean, I certainly don't think goat Buffy (or runner-up Veronica Mars) would have been improved if one of the seasons had an unplanned-for episode just plopped in awkwardly.
