The One Chicago franchise, comprising three on-air shows, is one of the strongest franchises on television.
One Chicago Wednesday is one of the most entertaining programming blocks, featuring Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D., which take viewers through a range of emotions and feelings.
More than a decade in, the shows consistently deliver stellar ratings, making renewals a no-brainer.
The upcoming broadcast season will feature fresh seasons of all three shows.
Few people engage with the franchise in a deeper manner than the TV Fanatic staff. If you read our opinions, you’ll see that we’re always ready to critique everything about the three shows, offering both love and disappointment, depending on the focus.
We recently learned that Toya Turner won’t be returning to Chicago P.D. after playing Kiana Cook for a single season.
Reacting to this news, One Chicago Fanatics broke into a spontaneous discussion in a Slack channel, and it became clear that we had gripes with the shows.
From a revolving door of cast members to undercooked stories and a shrinking character ensemble, this is not the One Chicago we know and love, and we aren’t sure things will improve in subsequent seasons.
Is One Chicago Going Stale?
“I may have hit my limit with One Chicago,” Jasmine Blu said. She explained:
“I’m already not interested in Chicago Fire with their casting BS. Taylor Kinney acts like he’s phoning it in and only there for the paycheck when he’s even onscreen. They do the stupidest stuff with Mouch and Hermann, sidelined Ritter, and then ousted him, and have gotten rid of Carver, who had the most story potential.”
Her comments echoed recurring criticism of Chicago Fire, where there is no effort to address the show’s weak points.
Some longtime fanatics like Paul Dailly jumped ship a long time ago.
“I used to be all-in on One Chicago, but I can’t remember the last time I watched any of them. P.D. used to be my favorite, but everything I’ve been reading about it has put me right off it,” he said.
He explained his major gripe. “My biggest issue with those shows, anyway, is that character arcs are discarded when the show is done with them.”
