CBS Gives ‘Code Black’ an Order for Five More Episodes

CBS is so happy with their new dramatic series Code Black‘s ratings that the network’s ordered five more episodes. The medical drama will now have an 18 episode season one run, airing on Wednesday nights at 10pm ET/PT. The series has 9+ million people tuning in on Wednesdays, with 3 million more tuning in via DVR and other playbacks.

Code Black is based on Ryan McGarry’s critically acclaimed documentary and stars Marcia Gay Harden, Bonnie Somerville, Raza Jaffrey, Luis Guzmán, Melanie Chandra, Harry M. Ford, Benjamin Hollingsworth and William Allen Young. McGarry executive produces the medical drama along with Michael Seitzman, Marti Noxon, Linda Goldstein-Knowlton, and David Semel.

The Code Black Plot:

Code Black is a heart-pounding medical drama that takes place in the busiest, most notorious ER in the nation, where the staggering influx of patients can outweigh the limited resources available to the extraordinary doctors and nurses whose job is to treat them all – creating a condition known as Code Black. At the heart of the ER’s controlled chaos is Residency Director Dr. Leanne Rorish (Harden), renowned for successfully performing high-risk procedures in Center Stage, the trauma area reserved for the most critical cases. Her four new first-year residents are Christa Lorenson (Somerville), Malaya Pineda (Melanie Kannokada), Mario Savetti (Hollingsworth) and Angus Leighton (HFord). Leanne’s confidante, Jesse Sallander (Guzman), is an amiable seen-it-all senior nurse who manages the residents.

Also working in the ER is Dr. Neal Hudson (Jaffrey), an excellent physician who sometimes disagrees with Leanne’s “cowboy” approach, and Dr. Rollie Guthrie (Young), the energetic, longest-serving attending. In Center Stage, life is measured in seconds, and these heroic doctors and nurses operate with speed and skill within an overwhelmed system to treat the crowds of people who are often there for one of two reasons: to die or to receive a life-saving miracle.