Why Chicago Med season 3 and This Is Us make for a perfect pairing
What’s to like about this? More or less, everything. It’s one of the smartest things that NBC could do when it comes to giving a great series, one that needs a little bit of a ratings boost for its third go-around, a chance to really deliver when it comes to some of its numbers. There are few lead-ins on television that are quite as strong as This Is Us both in terms of the 18-49 demographic and also total viewership.
We’ve been a little bit critical, moreover, of the decision to pair this show with Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders. If you are a network executive, one of the things we feel like you should really be trying to emphasize is finding ways to give similar programs chances to shine together. The Menendez Murders is a fairly gritty, depressing story where everyone knows how the story ends. While This Is Us has many a tear-jerking moment, this is ultimately a show about family and at times a show about hope and perseverance. Chicago Fire benefited from airing after it last year because it echoed many of those themes. It is also a show about hope, and while its firehouse family gets into trouble they almost always come together in the end.
With Chicago Med season 3 and This Is Us paired together, there are some opportunities to keep this same sort of pattern going that was there with Chicago Fire. The hospital family is tight-knit and we think that This Is Us viewers will respond to their relationships and some of what they do. It also benefits from being a semi-procedural in that it’s a heck of a lot easier to dive into an episode of this show totally blind as to what’s coming, as opposed to with a show like The Menendez Murders where you really do benefit from a tremendous amount of context.
Hopefully, Chicago Med sets some new ratings records for itself this year — or at least tops the performance that it gave on NBC. If it manages to achieve either one of these things we’ve got a feeling that it will be fairly easy to be satisfied at the end of the day. This is a show that is emotional, funny at times, and almost always heartfelt. It’s a great part of both the One Chicago family and NBC as a whole.
Do you think that this Chicago Med and This Is Us pairing will work?
Meanwhile, take a look at the link here to read a full synopsis for the third season (including some news on Dr. Charles’ fate) — you can also like us on Facebook or subscribe to our weekly newsletter in order to see additional updates. (Photo: NBC.)