'Awkward' Renewed for Second Season

MTV"Awkward" MTV has renewed high school comedy Awkward for a second season. The comedy, about a 15-year-old girl with a blog who's anxious to fit in among her peers, has been picked up for 12 episodes set for early 2012. "We love the show and Awkward's comedic voice really shines through in such a brilliant way in these episodes," MTV head of programming David Janollari told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. "[Creator] Lauren Iungerich's voice is unique and strong and incredibly resonant with our core young audience." The pickup comes on the heels of record ratings for the Ashley Rickards comedy, which hit a series high last week, drawing 1.9 million viewers on Tuesday night, up from the 1.7 million who tuned in to the July 19 series premiere. Last week's episode also delivered a series high of a 2.0 rating in the 12-34 demo, up 21 percent week-over-week and tops in its time period among the group. The pickup continues MTV's relationship with Iungerich, with the cable network recently announcing that it would be going into production on her pilot, Dumb Girls, a story of love struck twentysomethings. Should Dumb Girls get the series order, Janollari was open to a potential pairing. "They certainly would live harmoniously on our air," he said. "They both have incredibly strong voice and Lauren's writing is exceptional in our opinion. They certainly will speak to our core audience in a very similar way." MTV has continued to push into scripted programming, renewing freshman series Teen Wolf for a second season in July, with a number of scripted series coming down the pipeline, including half-hour comedy Death Valley bowing later this month as well as the January launch of dramedy I Just Want My Pants Back, with comedy Inbetweeners in production for next year. "[The pickup] marks yet another successful push into scripted for us and it's a further diversification of our schedule," Janollari noted. The pickup comes a few days after MTV canceled The Hard Times of R.J. Berger. Awkward will air seven additional episodes this season, with new installments airing Tuesdays at 11 p.m. on MTV. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit RELATED: MTV's David Janollari: 'Teen Wolf' is 'Like Puberty Gone Wild' (Q&A) MTV David Janollari Awkward