Dick Wolf's medical drama series "Chicago Med" is extending its stay in NBC. The Hollywood Reporter reported that NBC has ordered five more episodes. This means that the first season of the hit medical drama will now have 18 episodes which make the total of the season to 18 hours.
"Chicago Med" is part of the Wolf's "Chicago" trilogy drama which includes "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD." The show stars include Oliver Platt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Rachel DiPillo, Colin Donnell, Brian Tee and Torrey DeVitto.
It came as no surprise that NBC made such decision given the show's decent and solid ratings. According to Entertainment Weekly, in the first four telecasts of "Chicago Med," it got an average of 2.0 rating in adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers overall based on Nielsen's live plus same-day estimates.
The Variety shared that "Chicago Med" benefited a lot from "The Voice" as a lead-in. Its 9 p.m. timeslot every Tuesday already earned set viewers which helped boost the show's ratings.
A report from The Wrap indicated that "Chicago Med" is the only show this season on any of the four broadcast networks that was able to earn a continuous increase in its ratings during the first three weeks since it premiered. The show was able to grow its ratings from 1.8 in the second week to a 2.0 in the third and 2.1 in the fourth week.
Since the show just started last Nov. 17, it is not necessary for NBC to make it up to 22 or 24 episodes for the rest of the season. The show still has 14 more episodes that will air from January to May.
Meanwhile, Deadline also reported that the success of "Chicago" series is on top as "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D." were already renewed for the next season. As for "Chicago Med," it goes on with a solid start.
"Chicago Med" airs every Tuesday 9 p.m. on NBC.
