Though Forever has been struggling in the ratings, ABC has ordered nine additional episodes, bringing the first season tally to 22 installments.

On the Forever TV show, New York City’s star medical examiner is Doctor Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd). He can ascertain things that most can not because of his vast experience — he’s been alive for 200 years but can’t figure out how or why. The rest of the cast includes Alana de la Garza, Lorraine Toussaint, Donnie Keshawarz, Joel David Moore, and Judd Hirsch.

The show debuted in late September and got off to a poor start, following the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars on a Monday night. It attracted a 1.5 rating with 8.26 million viewers. The following night, in its permanent timeslot, the demo rose to a 1.8 rating but viewership dropped to 6.62 million.

In week two, the ratings tumbled to a 1.4 in the demo with 5.66 million. In week three, they fell even lower and the numbers have been hovering around a 1.1 rating with fewer than five million viewers.

While Forever can hardly be considered a ratings success, the network apparently feels its performing well enough to be given some more time. They may also not have anything better to put into its place.

The show also sees significant percentage gains in the Live+7 reports, an indication that people are watching Forever but it’s not “appointment television.” ABC recently touted that Forever saw an 82% boost in the Live+7 ratings for October 14th — going from a 1.1 rating to a 2.0 rating. That seems impressive but it’s important to remember that all the rest of ABC’s shows (ones with better “live” ratings) also saw big boosts. For example, that week’s How to Get Away with Murder bumped from a 2.8 to a 4.9 demo rating.

In the long run, unless the ratings improve, it’s hard to imagine that Forever will see a second season.

But, what do you think? Have you been watching Forever? Do you think it’s a better show than what the ratings seem to indicate?