Why are Chicago Fire, Med and PD off until December?

Compared to last year, the 2021 fall season has been quite kind to One Chicago fans with NBC airing new episodes of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD with limited interruption thus far this season.

In fact, up until recently, there had been no breaks at all in the season with NBC airing new episodes every Wednesday night for eight consecutive weeks beginning with the One Chicago premieres on Sept. 22.

As a result, fans have been able to catch new episodes consistently for the past few months which is perhaps why many were surprised when they settled in on Nov. 17 to catch another trio of new episodes only to be greeted by reruns instead.

Why are Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD on a break?

So why exactly has NBC chosen now of all times to send Chicago Fire, Med and PD on a break after eight weeks of back-to-back new episodes?

Well, to be honest, there isn’t really a clear explanation behind the scheduling move as most NBC dramas are going to be airing their fall finales right before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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This is typically the standard practice for broadcast networks, as they tend to send their scripted series on a break over the final weeks of the year in order to make way for holiday programming and to account for the fact that viewers tend to tune in less around the holidays — thus leading to rating slumps.

Considering this season’s One Chicago episodes have aired without interruption, one would have thought NBC would air each series’ ninth episode the week of Nov. 15 and then put the series on a hiatus for the remainder of the year. Instead, NBC has lined up a more unique schedule for the final episodes of 2021.

When do Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med return?

Rather than airing the One Chicago fall finales in November, Chicago Fire, Med and PD are taking three weeks off before returning on Wednesday, Dec. 8 for their fall finales. These episodes will serve as the last new installments of the series before the new year, which is perhaps why it’s so puzzling that NBC opted to air the finales as one-off episodes in December rather than in November.

One possible explanation is the fact that we know Chicago Fire will be doing a holiday episode and it’s possible NBC simply wanted the episode to air in December rather than before Thanksgiving had arrived.

Regardless of the reason, the final episodes of 2021 will air on Dec. 8 and the series will then return at the top of the new year with their winter premieres coming on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022!

For the latest Chicago Fire season 10, Chicago Med season 7, and Chicago PD season 9 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD categories at One Chicago Center.