Super Success: CBS Orders Full Season of Supergirl

If you're a fan of Supergirl, you now have no need to worry that the series won't be around for a full first season. A month into the show's debut season, CBS has announced a full-season order of 20 episodes, which will carry the series to the end of the regular season in the spring.

Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, the super-powered cousin of Superman. The series debuted relatively late in the season, on October 26, and the premiere episode drew impressive ratings. Since then, the series' ratings have fallen dramatically, to the point that the fifth episode drew less than half the audience of the premiere. CBS' commitment to letting the series have a full season to prove itself comes after the network gave a full-season order to fellow freshman series Limitless, Life in Pieces and Code Black.

Supergirl has attracted attention for its part in the trend toward super-hero series led by female characters. Although female superheroes have yet to come into the spotlight on the big screen, they're everywhere on TV, from Supergirl to Marvel's Agent Carter on ABC to Marvel's Jessica Jones on Netflix.