"The Rookie" will have plenty of time to prove itself: The Nathan Fillion sitcom just got picked up for a full first season.

ABC has ordered seven additional installments of the freshman series, bringing its total episode count to 20. It joins fellow new shows "The Connors," "Single Parents," and "A Million Little Things" in receiving full-season pickups on the network.

As Variety notes, "The Rookie" is just the latest series to get a pickup that's less than the traditional 22- or 24-episode order that's been the standard for years. (NBC's "Manifest" is another.) That's not necessarily a negative thing, though: Critically-acclaimed "This Is Us" airs only 18 episodes per season, and lower episode counts have become much more common recently.

"The Rookie" focuses on new cop John Nolan (Fillion), a middle-aged man who fulfills his dream of becoming an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. But his status as the force's oldest rookie ever means he's met with plenty of skepticism from his higher-ups, who see him as a walking midlife crisis -- and a potential liability to himself and others.

The series, which has been averaging 9.7 million viewers so far this season, airs on Tuesdays on ABC.

[via: Variety]