'Sons of Anarchy' rides into a fourth season

"Sons of Anarchy" will continue to roll into 2011.

FX said Thursday (Oct. 7) that it's picking up a fourth season of its top-rated show. The new season, due next year, will run for 13 episodes.

"'Sons of Anarchy' is the most popular show FX has ever had, and the No. 1 series in basic cable for our key demographic," FX president and general manager John Landgraf says. "It is also one of the best, most original series on television. FX is grateful to [creator] Kurt Sutter and his team of writers, actors, directors and crew for working so hard to make a show that achieves both those levels of success."

Over the first five episodes of this season, "SOA" has averaged 4.9 million viewers per first-run episode (including DVR viewing), with 3.4 million of those viewers falling into the adults 18-49 demo that FX targets. Factoring in multiple replays each week, the per-episode number grows to 8.6 million viewers and 5.9 million among adults 18-49.

By all counts, it's the highest-rated original series FX has ever had.

Season 3 continues Tuesday (Oct. 12) with SAMCRO trying to protect its territory by dealing with a rat inside St. Thomas.