Image Credit: Elizabeth Morris/NBC
Earlier this week, Chicago Fire was among several NBC shows that learned they will officially be returning next season. So it’s a good thing the show has plans to heat things up in the last four episodes of the season, which kick off tonight on NBC. How will they do that? Executive producer Matt Olmstead explained when we had him touch on some of our burning questions… READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Frank Ockenfels/The CW; Sonja Flemming/CBS; Elizabeth Morris/NBC
What awaits the Winchesters when they meet Metatron? What’s going to shake up Chicago Fire? And how does Nicolas Cage (sort of) make an appearance on The Big Bang Theory? Answers to all that and more in this week’s column. 
Enjoy, friends. Best to you and yours on this emotional week.
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On last week’s Chicago Fire, Severide (Taylor Kinney) was ready to go under the knife to repair a serious shoulder injury that has plagued him most of the season and was facing a lengthy downtime as a result. This week’s episode finds post-surgery Severide coming face-to-face with someone from his past (Shane McRae), a firefighter who entered the firehouse while he was away and is set to recur starting this week.
Tease: It’s not going to be a fond reunion because Severide was once engaged to his sister!
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There’s a headline you didn’t expect to see this morning!
NBC’s Chicago Fire may not have impressed the critics, but the freshman drama’s ratings jumped 20 percent for its third episode last night. The hunky firefighting drama had 6.3 million viewers and a 1.8 rating in the adult demo. The improvement was at least partly due to lead-in Law & Order: SVU (6.7 million, 1.8) climbing 13 percent for its 300th episode. Chicago Fire‘s numbers are still not impressive — it ranked last at 10 p.m. — but any week your ratings go up 20 percent is a good week.
Chicago Fire was topped by CBS’ CSI (9.8 million, 2.4), which won hour and was up 4 percent from last week. So with NBC and CBS rising at 10 p.m., what did that mean for ABC’s Nashville (6.6 million, 2.0)? Some silver lining there, too, with the country music drama steady after its sharp drop last week.
Another new drama, The CW’s Arrow (3.5 million, 1.1), slipped 15 percent, which dragged down Supernatural (1.8 million, 0.7). READ FULL STORY »
Nashville, the best-reviewed new drama of the fall, premiered to solid ratings Wednesday night, while The CW’s new action-drama Arrow set a record for the network.
ABC’s country music drama delivered 9 million viewers and a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49. That’s enough to win the hour in the adult demo, topping CBS’ CSI (10.6 million, 2.6) and the premiere of NBC’s new series Chicago Fire (6.4 million, 1.9). But Nashville was down 15 percent from the launch of Revenge in this slot last year. NBC’s fire-fighting drama was largely panned by critics and had a disappointing launch, down 21 percent from the debut of Law & Order: SVU in this slot last fall. (Nashville averaged a score of 84 on Metacritic while Chicago Fire had a 49).
Yet here’s something interesting: Of the three dramas in the hour, the Connie Britton series had the weakest audience retention from its first half to its second. Chicago Fire didn’t shed any of its demo rating between its half hours — which is pretty rare for a show premiering this late at night. Nashville may have a bigger rating, but Chicago Fire did a better job of keeping viewers in their seat.
Another key debut last night: The CW’s Arrow (4 million, 1.3 rating) got off to a fine start. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Sandro/NBC
It’s about 7 p.m. and Jesse Spencer has just woken up from a nap. The late afternoon snooze may not be the norm, but it’s necessary prep with two days of night shoots ahead of him.
The day before his call with EW, he and his fellow TV firefighters from Chicago Fire spent 14-hours in the blazing hot August sun while wearing 60 pounds of protective gear and equipment. So far, this is a lot harder than House.
But then again, that, too, had its challenges…
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me a little bit about some of the other offers that you fielded after House and why you decided on this role.
JESSE SPENCER: It was kind of one that felt like the right fit. [House] was a very cerebral show and it was a really, really really, good show. Chicago Fire was just something different. It’s not cerebral. It’s more of a character-based show with a lot of action. After eight years of being an intellectual and spewing out medical terms, it was time to do something in the opposite direction. And running around in [firefighter's] gear for 14 hours seemed like the right thing to do. [Laughs] READ FULL STORY »
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
