Chicago Med Finally Premiered, Here's How It Did

It’s a lot less risky to introduce a new show in an already successful franchise, but that doesn’t mean every spinoff that ever hits the airwaves is a hit. Luckily, some are. Last night, NBC aired the first official episode of Chicago Med--following a crossover last spring that introduced the characters—and the show actually ended up doing pretty well. In fact, of the three Dick Wolf-produced Chicago-based shows, Chicago Med has had the highest first episode premiere.

The numbers came in this morning, and NBC announced that 8.6 million viewers gave Chicago Med a shot last night. Those high numbers also translated into a solid 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The show was pretty well on par with what the premieres of Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. did, and even managed to beat them a bit. Back in 2012, the Chicago Fire premiere did 6.6 million viewers and a 1.9 rating. In 2013, Chicago P.D.’s premiere did 8.5 million viewers and a 2.0. All in all, it was a good night for Chicago Med.

This time of year, shows that premiere don’t have to compete with a bunch of other brand new shows, as they would have to at the end of September. Still, it can be hard to market and get people invested in a new show in November when they’ve settled comfortably in their TV viewing schedules. Chicago Med, like fellow late newcomer Supergirl, had gotten the word out pretty well before last night’s premiere. It helped that fans had some idea of what to expect from the series, thanks to the Chicago Fire episode that featured the major players last spring.

Granted, Med has gone through some retooling since then. Showrunner Andrew Dettmann left the series a few months ago due to “creative differences” regarding the medical drama. He’s not the only person who left. Back in August, Laurie Holden also said she was bowing out of the medical drama, after having appeared in that backdoor pilot crossover deal I’ve already brought up in this article. Despite the changes, the premiere episode, although unspectacular, was still an enjoyable and intriguing episode. It wouldn’t be a huge shock if fans stuck around in the coming weeks.

Of course, most shows tend to lose viewers after the premiere episode (though the rare few keep growing in the subsequent weeks). We’ll let you know how Chicago Med continues to fare as it moves forward. If you’d like to give it a watch, be sure to head to NBC on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET. You can also catch the premiere episode over at NBC’s site.