May 02--NBC has picked up "Chicago Med" for next season. The news comes two weeks before the network's scheduled upfront announcements, when it will unveil plans for all of its new upcoming series.
Like "Chicago PD," "Chicago Med" is a spinoff of "Chicago Fire." The cast will include recognizable faces such as Oliver Platt (playing a psychiatrist) and S. Epatha Merkerson (as a hospital administrator).
All three "Chicago" shows are from executive producer Dick Wolf, who has been vocal about wanting to set more series in the city.
"The wonderful thing about Chicago is that it represents, sort of shamelessly, the best of American values and ideals and yet at the same time it's a very interesting urban petri dish in which there are lots of bad things that can happen on cop shows," he told my colleague Steve Johnson last year, when rumors of a possible medical show first surfaced.
News of the pickup is not unexpected. When the "Chicago Med" backdoor pilot aired as an episode of "Chicago Fire" in early April, it pulled in 8.5 million viewers.
"Chicago Med" will be based out of Cinespace Studios on the West Side, along with Wolf's two other projects, to better allow for crossover appearances. Fox's "Empire" also shoots at Cinespace.
That leaves one remaining open soundstage at the facility, which became available when USA declined to pick up the comedy "Sirens" for a third season.
That's good news for local crews who worked on either of two pilots that shot at Cinespace in March. Little has been said about NBC's "Love is a Four Letter Word," but ABC's "Runner" has been generating buzz and could be a contender. The drama about arms dealers stars Paula Patton.
nmetz@tribpub.com
