Beyond The TV Grave: H.E.L.P., Dick Wolf’s Early Precursor to One Chicago

One Chicago Shows, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU Renewed by NBC

Five of Dick Wolf's six shows at NBC have been renewed for next season by NBC. The Peacock Network's Wednesday night lineup - Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD - has been renewed in full, while Thursday night dramas Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU have also been picked up. Chicago Fire currently rates as TV's #1 scripted series (The Simpsons and Abbott Elementary currently post higher averages, but are inflated by event programming that aired before selected episodes), with Med rating as #3, SVU as #4, and PD as #7. Wolf's shows have long been a staple of NBC's lineup, with Law & Order originally premiering in 1990 (before being canceled in 2010 and revived in 2022) and SVU being the longest-running live-action scripted show in American television history, celebrating its 25th season this year. Left in limbo is Law & Order: Organized Crime, Wolf's only other series on the network and the lowest-rated of his six NBC shows.

How FBI Became The #1 Franchise On CBS Over NCIS

 

Law & Order and One Chicago Shows Renewed

NBC has locked down all six of their Dick Wolf series, renewing each of them for an additional season. The six series comprise the entirety of their Wednesday and Thursday lineups, with Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD forming their Wednesday night "One Chicago" lineup and Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime airing on Thursdays. The Law & Order lineup is the latest in a recent trend of broadcast networks turning over entire nights to successful franchises, following the aforementioned Chicagos, Wolf's FBI franchise for CBS, and the 9-1-1 (which have since been split up). While the Law & Order revival floundered at times last season, it has stabilized into a strong performer for the network in its second revival season, boasting a 0.48 average that ranks the show in the top twenty among scripted originals this season. All of Wolf's NBC series rank in the top twenty, with the Chicagos and SVU also in the top ten. Chicago PD and Organized Crime are also the #1 and #2 10 PM series on broadcast, respectively. These renewals are for a single season each, as opposed to the previous three-season renewals of the Chicagos and SVU back in 2019. All six are correct predictions for The TV Ratings Guide.

Law & Order: For the Defense Ordered to Series by NBC

The Law & Order franchsie is expanding again. After a blockbuster launch of new series Organized Crime, Dick Wolf's longest-running franchise is adding an eight series, titled Law & Order: For the Defense, to the family. This series is a joint venture between Wolf and CSI alum Carol Mendelsohn, and has been given a straight-to-series order. It has yet to be determined if it will air in the 2021-22 season. It will explore a different angle of the criminal justice system, focusing on the defense instead of the prosecution and police. No cast has been announced for the series at this time. This order comes after years of NBC attempting to get a different Law & Order spinoff, Hate Crimes, up and running.