Chicago Fire has accomplished a lot since its premiere back in 2012, but there is one thing that has long eluded the show: Emmy recognition.
Now, as someone who has been writing about the entertainment industry for over a decade, this isn’t at all surprising. It has nothing to do with the quality of the show at all, but the sad reality is that broadcast shows simply don’t tend to get the same recognition as streaming and cable series. While it used to be cable and streaming originals fighting for a place at the table during awards season, it’s now broadcast shows that are fighting to break through.
Broadcast comedies have fared well over the years, but you have to go back 20 years to 2006 to find the last time a broadcast drama walked away with the Emmy for Best Drama Series. No one could have predicted that when 24 took home the Emmy in 2006 it would be the last broadcast show to win the award for what is now 20 years and counting, but here we are with no signs of a broadcast series such as Chicago Fire winning the award.
Fans have all but given up hope of ever seeing Chicago Fire – or any One Chicago show for that matter – take home an Emmy. However, the Television Academy is about to introduce a new award that could very well make it possible for the One Chicago franchise to be recognized by the Emmys.
The Television Academy has announced the introduction of its first major new Emmy in nearly 20 years with the introduction of the Legacy Award. This new Emmy is designed to honor TV programs that have made a profound and lasting impact on audiences and remain relevant to society, culture, and the industry.
To be eligible for the Legacy Award, a show has to meet two major criteria. First, the show must have accumulated a minimum of 60 episodes across a minimum of five seasons. The show must also demonstrate continued or sustained relevance, influence, or inspiration to a genre of television, an existing or new audience, or society and culture.
Given that Chicago Fire has produced nearly 300 episodes and is in its fourteenth season, the show certainly meets the first criterion. And we’d also argue that it meets the second as well as the show continues to demonstrate a sustained relevance as one of the most-watched shows on broadcast TV and inspiring its competitors to launch their own successful first responder series. Take, for example, how ABC saw the success of Chicago Fire and created a firefighter spinoff for Grey’s Anatomy, or how CBS has used its own firefighter drama to launch a shared universe of its own with Fire County and Sheriff Country.
We can only hope that the Television Academy will use this new award to honor legacy shows such as Chicago Fire that remain mainstays on the small-screen, but fail to get the recognition they deserve among the broader Emmy categories.