'Arrow' picked up for a full season on The CW

The CW has picked up its new drama "Arrow" for a full season -- which is what you do when a show delivers your network its biggest audience in three years.

The show, which stars Stephen Amell as the title character, got its back-nine episode order on Monday (Oct. 22), two episodes into the season. Those two episodes, though, have brought The CW some very strong ratings.

The series premiere on Oct. 10 scored 4.1 million viewers, the most to watch a CW series since late 2009. Episode 2 held up quite well, bringing in 3.5 million viewers and holding all of its adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 audience from the previous week. The CW notes it's the only new drama this season not to maintain its demographic numbers from the first to the second episode.

"Our strategy of rolling out our new fall schedule later in the year really paid off for The CW on several levels, especially with 'Arrow,' CW president Mark Pedowitz says. "I'm proud of the quality of 'Arrow' and I'm happy we'll be able to share more of it with viewers."