Nellie Andreeva

Related: USA’s ‘Necessary Roughness’ To Be Renewed For Third Season

Necessary Roughness Renewed USA NetworkUSA Network has ordered a third season of original drama series Necessary Roughness. Its pickup is for 10 episodes, down from 12 for Season 1 and 16 for the series’ current second season. Necessary Roughness stars Callie Thorne as New York Hawks sports psychologist Dani Santino, who struggles with the threat of losing her practice while attempting to keep her personal life intact. Created by Elizabeth Kruger and Craig Shapiro, Necessary Roughness hasn’t been a breakout hit for USA but developed a loyal audience and has been pretty consistent. The summer portion of its current second season premiered with 3 million Live+Same Day viewers in June and wrapped with 2.9 million for the August finale. The Sony TV/Universal Cable Prods show gets a significant DVR boost, with its Season 2 premiere viewership rising to 4.6 million in Live+7. The show’s five-episode winter season launches January 23. “Necessary Roughness is an important page in our network playbook,” USA Network Co-Presidents Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel said, keeping with the sports theme of the series. “With a standout team of actors and writers playing at the top of their game, the upcoming seasons promise to deliver high-impact and creative storytelling.”

Necessary Roughness, which earned a Golden Globe nomination for Thorne, was the last summer USA series whose future had not been determined. It joins its companions Royal Pains, Burn Notice, Suits, Covert Affairs and White Collar, which all have been renewed. Like Necessary Roughness, the orders for Royal Pains and Burn Notice were for fewer episodes than their current cycles. Meanwhile, USA opted not to do additional seasons of Fairly Legal, Common Law and Political Animals.

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