Chris Hardwick, host of NBC's 'The Wall'

NBC has ordered 20 more episodes of new freshman game show “The Wall,” which is executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, and hosted by Chris Hardwick.

The announcement was made Wednesday morning during NBC’s Television Critics Association press event.

“When we started ‘The Wall’ we wanted to create something that would get families excited and change peoples’ lives,” NBA star James said. “Maverick and I couldn’t be more proud of the show’s early success and we want to keep building on that. I want to thank NBC for their partnership, Andrew Glassman for his vision, and all the fans for their support.”

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Following “Better Late Than Never,” “The Wall” marks the second show to launch under the newly formed Universal Television Alternative Studio, which was announced in June. The show has proven to be solid in TV ratings, especially after settling in to its regular 8 p.m. time slot.

It’s also spreading overseas. French broadcaster TF1 recently became the first foreign territory to commission “The Wall,” and will produce 40 episodes this spring. The show is a collaboration between SpringHill Entertainment and Glassman Media with James, Hardwick, Carter and Andrew Glassman serving as executive producers. “The Wall” was developed by Glassman Media in conjunction with Core Media and produced in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio.

“The Wall” basically plays out like a giant game of Plinko. Here are the rules: Get a question correct and a green ball will fall down the four-story wall and add the value of the slot to the players’ winning total. Miss a question and an ominous red ball will fall and deduct the value from the team. Teammates have to work together to build a huge cash prize.

The game show puts $12 million up every night, and up to $3 million on a single drop.

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“We’re thrilled that viewers have become as captivated by ‘The Wall’ as we are,” added Meredith Ahr, president, Universal Television Alternative Studio, NBC Entertainment. “We have been in pursuit of a brand new high-stakes game show for a while and are so happy to have developed it with LeBron James.”

“A big event, family-friendly game show that can open a night is a wonderful asset joining NBC’s powerhouse reality brands such as ‘The Voice,’ ‘America’s Got Talent,’ ‘American Ninja Warrior’ and ‘Little Big Shots,'” said Paul Telegdy, president, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment. “Chris Hardwick is masterful as he conducts this high-stakes rollercoaster, and the dramatic ride of the contestants ends with a thrilling decision that pays off differently every time and increases viewership significantly across the hour.”

'The Young Pope' Major Characters Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)

HBO's "The Young Pope" is amazing, and it's got a cast of colorful characters that almost makes the Vatican seem like any other place on Earth. But it's not, because the pope lives there. And there's a new pope in town, and he's very young. So let's run down how the residents of the Vatican have fared against said Young Pope (Jude Law) through the first two episodes.
HBO
19. Guy in suit who tells the young pope about breakfast
We're not sure what this guy's job is, but he seems to be the person who knows what the Young Pope likes to eat for breakfast. And he completely failed at that.
HBO
18. Voiello's secret son (?)
That gall this young man has to be a character on "The Young Pope" who is younger than the Young Pope himself. I cannot approve of this.
HBO
17. Cardinal Ozolins
Cardinal Ozolins (Vladimir Bibic) gets fired for gossiping about the Young Pope. What a clown. Try harder.
HBO
16. Cardinal Aguirre
Replaced Ozolins, but has no real characteristics so we have no reason to believe he wouldn't also joyfully spread Young Pope gossip. He does, however, seem like the sort of person who lacks any tact so he'd probably be worse at it than Ozolins.
HBO
15. Pope's cook
All she wanted was the be a grandma to the pope, and didn't show any backbone when the youngin' wouldn't have it. Gotta do better if you're gonna cut it in the Gen X Vatican.
HBO
14. Dussolier
The Young Pope's childhood friend (Scott Shepherd) but not, apparently, the Young Pope's current friend. Need more data before judging this one.
HBO
13. Esther
We saw Esther (Ludivine Sagnier) having sex, and also standing in the rain breathlessly taking in the Young Pope's bad first speech. We have no opinion about her.
HBO
12. Gutierrez
The Young Pope's faithful servant. If there's anybody who could "Game of Thrones" the papacy away from the Young Pope, though, it's this guy. But I don't think he has that kind of gumption.
HBO
11. Cardinal Marivaux
Admits to the Young Pope that he's gay, and promptly gets the secret passive-aggressive buzzer treatment. And manages to keep his cool through all of it.
HBO
10. Don Tommaso
Betrays everyone in the Vatican who gives their confession at his booth by telling the Young Pope everything they confess, but since the pope is God's representative on Earth is that actually a sin? I'm not enough of a doctrinal scholar to answer that question, so I'm just gonna leave Don Tomasso in the middle of the rankings.
HBO
9. Marketing lady
It was weirdly reassuring to meet her and realize that the Vatican is shamelessly capitalistic. They're just like us! So relatable.
HBO
8. Voiello
Voiello (Silvio Orlando) is like the Little Finger of "The Young Pope": cold, calculating, and saving himself for a specific woman. Of course, the woman in question being a 25,000-year-old statue is not a point in his favor, however.
HBO
7. Cardinal Spencer
Lost the popeship to his protege and is really mad about it. James Cromwell yelling angrily and saying the F-word will always rank highly for us.
HBO
6. Child pope
It seems hard to believe, but the young pope was actually even younger at some point. Incredible.
HBO
5. The Venus of Willdorf
This 25,000-year-old statue has been trying to seduce Cardinal Voiella for some time, but hasn't succeeded thus far. We need to see some more statue-related intrigue, but so far she's been great.
HBO
4. Young pope's assistant
She's not incredibly good at coming up with excuses for why the Pope has to leave meeting he doesn't want to be in, and we love her for it.
HBO
3. Lenny Belardo, a.k.a. the Young Pope
He's mean, but loves kangaroos. He comes off kinda as a bad person, but he's the Young Pope and we can't rank the Young Pope low.
HBO
2. Kangaroo
Without uttering a word, the kangaroo steals the entire show. That's partly just because he's a kangaroo. Well, it's entirely because of that. It's incredibly good that The Pope Show has a kangaroo.
HBO
1. Sister Mary
Even if Sister Mary weren't played by Diane Keaton, she would win this very serious ranked list just for this t-shirt.
HBO

1 of 20

(SPOILER WARNING): The characters who make up HBO’s new comedy series deserve a very serious ranked list

HBO's "The Young Pope" is amazing, and it's got a cast of colorful characters that almost makes the Vatican seem like any other place on Earth. But it's not, because the pope lives there. And there's a new pope in town, and he's very young. So let's run down how the residents of the Vatican have fared against said Young Pope (Jude Law) through the first two episodes.

View In Gallery

'The Young Pope' Major Characters Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)

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