Three of NBC's most reliable players will be back next season, with their trio of Chicago dramas - Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD - becoming the first dramas on the network to be renewed for the 2026-27 TV season. Before today, the network had only previously renewed sophomore comedies Happy's Place and St. Denis Medical for next season. Med and Fire are their highest-rated dramas, while PD is their highest-rated 10 PM series, with the Wednesday night block they all air in being the most consistently solid night of NBC's week, outside of sports. Med and Fire average an identical 0.34 in the key demo this season, while PD trails them by a half-tenth, with a 0.29 average. Among scripted programs, only Saturday Night Live and an NFL-inflated Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins top Med and Fire, while PD ranks seventh. While all three renewals looked like locks, this news does notably come more than a month earlier than last season's renewals, which came along with major cost-cutting measures, including a slight episode reduction. No major cost cuts have been announced so far with this renewal, though an episode order for next season hasn't been officially confirmed yet. All three renewals are correct predictions for The TV Ratings Guide.
