"Chicago Fire."
"Chicago Med."
"Chicago P.D."
And for a while, "Chicago Justice."
What's the story of all these shows?
Why are they all set in Chicago?
Keep watching for the behind-the-scenes details.
Over a decades-long career, Dick Wolf had brought many shows to television, including
hits like the "Law & Order" franchise.
In the early 2010s, Wolf decided to shift his focus from cops to big city firefighters.
Wolf contacted NBC, and they soon brought screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas
on board to develop a pilot.
Though they had a number of big screen hits to their credit, including "2 Fast 2 Furious"
and "3:10 to Yuma," they had little experience in television.
But Brandt told “The Hollywood Reporter” that lack of experience is part of why they
got hired.
"Dick was looking to do something totally different, and they were looking for feature
writers."
Wolf and NBC liked the pilot, and by 2012, “Chicago Fire” was in production with
a slot on NBC's primetime schedule.
The reason the first of many “One Chicago” shows was set in Chicago is because it was
the perfect locale.
According to Brandt, a show about first responders was too touchy for New York because, quote,
"Sept. 11 is still a big subject there," while Los Angeles, quote, "doesn't have enough weather"
to be dramatic.
"Chicago Fire," "Chicago P.D.," and "Chicago Med" are all connected, sharing the same fictional
reality under the “One Chicago” umbrella.
But characters from every show frequently pop up in other seemingly unrelated series
as well, as mastermind Dick Wolf has created many shows that all apparently take place
in the same universe.
For example, 2014, "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D."
crossed paths with "Law & Order: SVU."
It proved so successful that a few months later, all those shows crossed paths again,
telling a story that was initially supposed to be a two-part "SVU" episode.
And in 2017, one arson story dominated episodes of "Chicago Fire," "Chicago P.D.," "Chicago
Med," and the short-lived "Chicago Justice," with the legal element presided over by Judge
Danielle Melnick, a character from the original "Law & Order," which had been canceled in
2010, - before the One Chicago universe even existed.
The crossovers can even transcend the gulf between networks.
In 2020, CBS' "F.B.I.," a Dick Wolf production, featured "Chicago P.D."
character Hailey Upton teaming up with "F.B.I.'s" Agent O.A. in New York.
Actor Anthony Ferraris has played Rescue Squad 3 truck driver Tony on all three major “One
Chicago” shows, with over 100 episodes of "Chicago Fire" and cameos on both "Chicago
P.D." and "Chicago Med."
Not only does his character share his name, he shares his profession, too.
Ferraris is a native Chicagoan and an active firefighter.
In fact, he wasn't even a professional actor before he was cast on “Chicago Fire” in
2012.
So how did he land the job?
Well, a friend was told by a firefighters union that the show was looking for extras,
and he asked Ferraris to accompany him on the audition.
After he got the gig, his involvement increased.
On the first day of shooting, the crew discovered that none of the actors cast as firefighters
could drive the emergency vehicles.
Ferraris said,
"The show's technical advisor, who I've known for years, asked me if I would drive.
I said sure, and that's pretty much how it all went down."
After a half-dozen episodes, co-creator Derek Haas told Ferraris he was going to start writing
lines for him.
And that technical advisor who got Ferraris into the spotlight?
That was Steve Chikerotis, a Chicago firefighter who's also appeared in more than 20 episodes
of Chicago Fire, along with helping to write and serving as an associate producer.
Sophia Bush was one of the main stars of "Chicago P.D."
at its beginning in 2014.
The most recognizable member of the cast thanks to her time on the hit teen soap "One Tree
Hill," Bush portrayed the complicated Erin Lindsay, a former juvenile offender who becomes
a police informant before working her way up to Chicago police detective.
At the end of the fourth season of "Chicago P.D.," though, Det.
Lindsay abruptly left her hard-won position, accepting a spot with the FBI's counterterrorism
squad in New York City so as to shield her mother, the subject of a murder investigation.
In reality, Bush's character was written out because the actor had decided to leave Chicago
P.D.
The reason?
As she told Dax Shepard's “Armchair Expert” podcast, Bush found the show's working conditions
to be deplorable.
"It was a consistent onslaught barrage of abusive behavior."
Bush said that her body began breaking down because of the constant stress.
At first, producers wouldn't let Bush out of her contract, so she played hardball, threatening
to sue to get out of it or go public with her criticisms in a New York Times op-ed.
And that seemed to do the trick.
Oliver Platt is among the most acclaimed American
actors of his generation, lauded for performances on the small screen, big screen, and Broadway.
He's been nominated for four Emmy Awards, he received various accolades for his appearances
in films like "Frost/Nixon" and "Please Give," and he was a Tony Award nominee in 2006 for
the play "Shining City."
And yet the thing for which he's arguably best known is "Chicago Med."
So how did Platt wind up doing network TV?
It's all owing to his connection with One Chicago architect Dick Wolf, solidified over
another TV show that didn't succeed.
Platt told “The Hollywood Reporter,”
"Dick and I did another show together way back in 2000.
Dick and I formed a very real friendship and I have a tremendous respect for Dick as a
producer."
Platt said he was particularly interested to explore mental health in the ER.
"There's no X-Ray for anxiety, right?
So adding that element into this environment was to me an interesting character to explore."
While all the "Chicago" shows can stand on their own, NBC lumps the connected series
together and airs them in succession on "Chicago Wednesdays."
That's one full night of shows, and, it would seem, about as much Chicago drama that the
marketplace can hold or audiences can tolerate.
On March 1, 2017, NBC debuted "Chicago Justice," the fourth entry in producer Dick Wolf's “One
Chicago” saga about Windy City public servants and first responders.
The courtroom drama bore some similarities to the "order" portion of Wolf's long-running
"Law & Order," as well as some connections.
Lead character and prosecutor Peter Stone was the son of "Law & Order" attorney Ben
Stone.
"Chicago Justice" settled into its run as a midseason replacement after premiering as
the tail end of a three-show crossover with "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D."
Despite its link to those hit series, "Chicago Justice" was one One Chicago series too many.
After just 13 episodes were met with much lower ratings than those of its sister series,
NBC sent "Chicago Justice" away.
Once “One Chicago” producers decide to make a spinoff, they generally do so efficiently.
But "Chicago Med's" rollout was complicated and rushed.
The April 2015 "Chicago Fire" installment "I Am the Apocalypse" introduced "Chicago
Med's" premise, and the standalone show premiered just seven months later.
It was actually set to debut in early 2016, but then NBC fast-tracked it for a fall debut
after the medical drama "Heartbreaker" was suddenly postponed due to the pregnancy of
star Melissa George.
Then in August, "Med" star Laurie Holden abruptly quit the show, citing "family reasons."
Days later — and mere weeks before filming was set to begin — showrunner Andrew Dettmann
left over creative clashes with production company Universal Television.
Given all these hurdles, it's a miracle the show became the hit it is!
One day in December 2012, local Chicago program “WGN Morning News” carried a harrowing
and startling story about a plane crash within city limits.
With overheard footage obtained by its helicopter team, WGN aired video of the wreckage, depicting
a small, downed plane on the corner of Chicago's 29th Street and Martin Luther King Drive,
also reporting that roads around the site of the accident had been closed to traffic.
A tragedy for sure, but it turned out to have a happy ending for everyone except journalists.
A few moments after delivering the news of the plane crash, anchors Larry Potash and
Robin Baumgarten issued an update.
The plane crash wasn't a real crash at all, merely a simulated one.
As it turns out, it was a setup for a scene in "Chicago Fire," which had only just recently
begun shooting its first season in the Windy City.
An irate Baumgarten said on the air,
"Are you kidding me?
They might want to tell the news folk when they're doing this and shutting down King
Drive."
"Just to be clear, the other stories in that news block were real.
Just the last one, not so much."
People contain multitudes, and that certainly held true for "Chicago P.D.'s" Sean Roman.
At the end of Chicago P.D.'s third season, it looked like the hotheaded Roman was a goner
after he was shot in the line of duty.
However, he somehow survived, only to disappear from the show anyway after choosing to quit
the force and move away to San Diego rather than be relegated to semi-active police duty.
So why did this sudden departure happen?
Actually, it was more or less planned right from the beginning of the series.
Series creator Dick Wolf really wanted actor Brian Geraghty on the show, but Geraghty was
unsure about signing the seven-year contract that is typical for stars of shows like "Chicago
P.D."
So to accommodate Geraghty, Wolf instead agreed to allow Geraghty to sign a year-to-year deal,
so he could, quote, "leave the show when he felt it was time to move on."
NBC gives over a lot of its primetime schedule each week of the regular season to Dick Wolf's
One Chicago franchise, with an entire night of programming.
That's a substantial commitment to a franchise that hasn't always proven to be a popular
or profitable endeavor.
Despite how procedural shows are usually a safe bet for networks - witness the success
of "NCIS" and "Law & Order" shows - none of the three extant Chicago series were hits
right out of the gate, even the ones that were launched on the backs of previous Chicago
shows that had evolved into hits.
"Chicago Fire" debuted in fall 2012, and it finished its first season as only the 51st
most-watched show on network TV.
NBC renewed it and used it to launch the police-centered spinoff "Chicago P.D." in January 2014, which
finished its first season at #61.
"Chicago Med" did a little better in its inaugural season, finishing at #37 in the 2015-16 television
season.
But NBC stuck with the shows, letting the cast and creative staff find their voice and
allowing time for an audience to build.
It worked.
In the 2019-2020 season, all three parts of One Chicago ranked near the top of the Nielsen
TV ratings.
"Chicago Fire" came it at #7, followed by "Chicago P.D." and "Chicago Med" tied at #10.
In terms of total average viewers, One Chicago draws more people than CBS' multi-program
"NCIS" juggernaut.
The 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers in
Minnesota and Kentucky set off an international wave of civil rights protests not seen in
the U.S. since the 1960s.
While Americans publicly and privately grappled with questions of systemic racism, law enforcement
overreach, and police brutality, it left the entertainment industry in a strange place.
Long a hallmark of television, programs that celebrated or glorified police suddenly felt
dated at best and totalitarian at worst.
Law enforcement reality shows "Live P.D." and "Cops" were quickly canceled, and several
cast members — both past and present — of NBC's law enforcement-heavy One Chicago franchise
publicly supported police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Those actors may have ultimately forced the hand of their bosses to address the issues
on their purportedly gritty, realistic, and ripped-from-the-headlines TV series.
Also spurring action, civil rights advocacy group Color of Change co-authored a 2020 study
called "Normalizing Injustice," which argued that TV shows – "Chicago P.D." in particular
— normalize police misbehavior.
So in September 2020, Nicole Ari Parker joined the cast of "Chicago P.D."
as Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller, a police reform advocate who comes to Chicago
to assist Voight and his team follow strict new police protocols.
"The days of playing god are over.
The quicker you understand that, the better."
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