This should not come as a surprise to anyone:  ABC has ordered a back-nine for freshman drama FlashForward.  This means FlashForward will get a full season. Even if FlashForward were to be canceled - fat chance of that -  the series will catch-up with the FlashForward date.

ABC Caught everyone off-guard when they inserted news of the back-nine order into the press-release announcing previously leaked orders for Modern Family, Cougar Town, and The Middle.

Here's what ABC had to say about FlashForward's performance:

From 8:00-9:00 p.m. on Thursday, ABC’s “FlashForward” ranks No. 1 in Adults 18-49, leading CBS’ time-period veteran “Survivor: Samoa.” On its series debut telecast, the new ABC drama became the first regular program since “Friends” in 2004 to beat “Survivor” in the key young adult sales demo. The ABC freshman is an exceptionally strong draw among Adults 18-34, dominating its time period and qualifying as TV’s No. 1 new drama series this season. The new series is greatly improving its time period year to year for ABC, boosting the hour by 1.8 million viewers and by 32% in Adults 18-49 over the same nights last year. Based on DVR playback during season-premiere week, “FlashForward” finished as TV’s biggest freshman gainer, as its numbers jumped by 2.0 million viewers (12.5 million to 14.5 million) and 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (4.1 rating to 4.9 rating) from the initially reported next-day numbers to DVR finals.