FBR have stepped up to the plate and ordered 9 more episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles be put into production, in a move which makes End Of Show look like a bunch of idiots and which makes them look rather cool.

Terminator sank heavily in the ratings this season, slipping to numbers in key demographics which have almost universally lead to cancellation on FOX with previous shows.  It looked extremely unlikely FOX would order more episodes given the ratings, however they decided to take a new direction at the last minute — “Terminator” was about to start shooting it’s final episode — and stick with the show despite the slipping audience.

 Preston Beckman, Fox’s exec VP of strategic program planning and research, said the network is going to stick with Terminator on air through to Christmas.

“These are niche shows” he said.  Because “Terminator” has continuing story arcs that aren’t close-ended episode-to-episode, it makes it difficult to recruit new viewers.  

Asked to confirm if this means Dollhouse will lose the slot it was due to take from Terminator in January, a Fox spokeswoman told us “We haven’t announced our midseason schedule yet…  but Dollhouse is currently in production and for a premiere in ’09″.

We’ll be covering what caused the swing towards Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles favour in depth in a few days time.  It’s a bold move by FOX.