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NBC’s new One Chicago schedule: 5 questions we have

By Brittany Frederick

CHICAGO FIRE -- "The Grand Gesture" Episode 623 -- Pictured: (l-r) David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Christian Stolte as Mouch, Yuri Sardarov as Otis -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)
CHICAGO FIRE -- "The Grand Gesture" Episode 623 -- Pictured: (l-r) David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Christian Stolte as Mouch, Yuri Sardarov as Otis -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /
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One Chicago
NBCUNIVERSAL EVENTS — “One Chicago Day” — Pictured: (l-r) Oliver Platt and Nick Gehlfuss, “Chicago Med”; Kara Killmer, “Chicago Fire.” at the “One Chicago Day” Party at Prime & Provisions in Chicago, IL on October 30, 2017 — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /

2. Can this solve the shows’ lead-in problem?

One of the biggest complaints we’ve had going back to last season is that our One Chicago shows have not always had the best lead-ins, and as a result we’ve seen their ratings impacted. Is there a chance the move to Wednesdays is a permanent solution to that problem?

Thursdays have been pretty terrible for Chicago Med and now Chicago Fire, as NBC gave them its Thursday night comedy block as lead-ins; that’s not compatible with our dramas whatsoever, and Fire in particular has had no help recently when its lead-in was the freshman comedy Champions, which flopped.

Over on Tuesdays, Chicago Med was doing some of its best numbers when it had the massive audience of This Is Us to draw upon, but saw its numbers slide when This Is Us was replaced by the new series Rise, which has since been cancelled.

Now there’s no way anyone can argue that the lead-ins aren’t compatible with each other. Chicago PD will be staying in the same spot where it’s been winning NBC’s night almost all season. Fire‘s numbers on Thursdays have been around the same that Law & Order: SVU has been getting in the Wednesday 9 p.m. slot, so now that Fire takes that spot over, it should be essentially a lateral move. The question mark is Med, because it’s not going to have a lead-in at all but will still have to bring in a large enough audience to provide momentum.

But at least there will be no pesky incompatible lead-ins or massive preemptions to upset our schedule next fall (that we know of right now, anyway). It’s a gamble for NBC to move Fire and Med, considering that both were solid performers on their respective nights so now the network has to find new 10 p.m. anchors on Tuesday and Thursday. But for the One Chicago franchise, this at least eliminates one long-running issue.

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