USA announced today that their alien occupation series Colony will be continuing on for a second season season. The series–from Lost veterans Josh Holloway and Carlton Cuse–has only aired three episodes thus far (the fourth airs tonight), but apparently the network feels good enough about it to give it the greenlight for a second season. It had just moderate overnight ratings for its first two episodes (averaging a 0.4 score), but it ticked up a bit last week. And these days the cable networks are leveraging things like international financing and partnerships as well as digital viewing, so the Nielsen overnights are becoming less useful to predict the renewal/cancellation status of these shows (which is a good thing because it demonstrates a move away from that outdated system). I have had the show at a Low Cancellation Alert level and consider the renewal announcement not much of a surprise. The second season of Colony will comprise thirteen episodes, three more than the current season’s ten. And it will likely hit the schedule about the same time next year.

There will be plenty more renewal and cancellation announcements in the weeks and months ahead as we head into Upfront season when the cable and broadcast networks start announcing their schedules for the coming year. So be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for announcements and breaking news.