In a (let’s be honest) unsurprising announcement, NBC has renewed five of its biggest shows, bringing back ‘Chicago Med‘ for Season 10, ‘Chicago Fire‘ for Season 13, ‘Chicago P.D.’ for Season 12, ‘Law & Order‘ for Season 24 and ‘Law & Order: SVU‘ for Season 26. What is rather more interesting is the show which they haven’t announced as renewed (yet.)
If you’re wondering why these shows keep returning, you only have to look at the numbers for NBC. ‘Chicago Med‘, ‘Chicago Fire‘, and ‘Chicago PD‘ (aka “One Chicago”) rank among the top 10 primetime entertainment shows this season in terms of total viewers. They are also the top three Wednesday night shows this season in total viewers.
Additionally, all three shows are growing viewers too, in somewhat staggering numbers, across both the total viewers and the critical 18-49 demo (L+35) which advertisers use as a metric for targeting ad sales. ‘Fire’ is averaging 12.6 million viewers (up 86%) and +236% in 18-49 demo. ‘P.D.’ is averaging 12.0 million viewers (+114%) and is up a staggering +287% in the demo. And ‘Med’ is averaging 10.5 million viewers (+57%) and is +141% in the demo.
Over on the “other” franchise, ‘Law & Order: SVU’ is Thursday’s #1 entertainment show in the 18-49 demo, averaging 11.2 million viewers (+111%) and is +325% in the demo. Whilst the main ‘Law & Order‘ is averaging 7.7 million viewers (+56%) and is +122% in the demo.
The one series notably missing from the renewal is the Christopher Meloni-led series, ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime‘. It is the lowest rated of all of the Dick Wolf series on NBC, and has been through some issues behind the scenes. Despite being only on Season 4, it has already churned through six showrunners… However, the drama is still “in discussion” at the network, so we should know one way or the other before the NBC “Upfront” (where the networks present their shows to advertisers) which is due in mid-May.
All five shows are produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.
The latest seasons of the “One Chicago” shows premiere on Sky Witness in the UK on Friday, 5th April 2024, with ‘Chicago Med‘ Season 9 kicking things off at 8pm followed by ‘Chicago Fire‘ Season 12 at 9pm & ‘Chicago PD‘ Season 11 at 10pm.
‘Law & Order‘ premieres on 5USA in the UK and is currently airing Season 22.
‘Law & Order: SVU‘, and ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime‘ also air on Sky Witness in the UK, but do not yet have a premiere date for the current seasons. If you want to keep track of these or any of the shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when the next season gets a UK premiere date.
