CHICAGO, Ill–Who doesn’t love seeing things blow up real good?
Certainly not TV journalists. NBC knew what they were doing when they invited an international gathering of beat writers to Chicago Monday to visit the sets of three Dick Wolf dramas: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and the newest entry, Chicago Med (premiering Nov. 17 on NBC and Global).
About 60 scribes spent the entire day sitting and yakking with the extended ensemble casts, including Jesse Spencer, Taylor Kinney, Eamonn Walker, David Eigenberg, Dora Madison, Monica Raymund, Christian Stolte, Jason Beghe, Sophia Bush, Elias Korteas, Amy Morton and John Seda, Oliver Platt, S. Epatha Merkerson and Steven R. McQueen were also in the house, along with Wolf and showrunners Matt Olmstead, Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov.
The round table interviews were followed by set visits and three cool demonstrations, including the above bit of fireworks presented by special effects coordinator John Milinac. Steve Chikerotis, a retired Chicago fire chief, acted as technical advisor. He has 25 years in the TV business, starting way back with consulting work on “Backdraft.”
The day ended with a red carpet event and party at swanky STK Chicago, where NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt made a surprise announcement: both Chicago Fire and Chicago PD have already been renewed for next season.
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The producers also teased a special TV threesome: a three series crossover airing in January. Ripped from the headlines like so many of Wolf’s shows, the three-in-one starts with Chicago Fire on Jan. 5 and the story of three women who overdosed on chemo despite all being cancer free. The story will hop to Chicago Med the next hour and Chicago PD the next day, with most cast members scrambled among all three shows. Greenblatt says he embraces any opportunity to “jolt” a series and is happy to embrace the crossover device–although he wouldn’t want to over do it.
