‘Chicago Fire’ season 4 debate: Pondering over episode count

Tonight, there is sadly not an episode of “Chicago Fire” on the air, and this is a reality that we have to prepare for one way or another moving into the fall. Just in case that was not hard enough, the timing of the season 4 premiere (which will not be until potentially November, as NBC is using its timeslot to launch the Neil Patrick Harris variety show) makes things even more complicated.

Ultimately, it is possible that you are going to learn more about what is next for Brett and Roman, for example, by watching “Chicago PD.” It is also possible that some hints for the Dawson story could be dropped over there, as well. This is the obvious and major downside to having to wait for a long period of time for new episodes, especially when you have a universe that is tied so closely together.

Is it possible that the show premiere late, and still feature 22 episodes? We would count on it, given that they can just run them through some of the typically lighter months like January and March without interruption. Season 3 actually had 23 episodes, but we would not be shocked if that is cut down to 22 in order to allow for more crossovers across shows.

The presence of “Chicago Med” is in some ways here a game-changer. While “Law & Order: SVU” is in the universe, you don’t really have to worry about too many jumps between it and some of the other shows due to setting. All of the other series are tied so closely together that it is virtually unavoidable that they are going to collide multiple times organically.