There are still a couple of months left in the spring portion of the 2024 TV schedule, but NBC has some early good news for fans of the network's biggest programs. All three One Chicago shows and two of the three Law & Orders have been renewed for the 2024-2025 TV season, and there are some surprises in the ratings data at this point... not to mention Law & Order: Organized Crime not being renewed like SVU and Law & Order.
How The Five Renewed Shows Rank In The Ratings
At the time of writing, this is what has been guaranteed for the Wolf Entertainment shows on NBC: Law & Order: SVU Season 26, Law & Order Season 24, Chicago Fire Season 13, Chicago P.D. Season 12, and Chicago Med Season 10. Anybody who watches NBC and sees how heavily promoted One Chicago and the Law & Orders are likely isn't surprised to see these shows getting some early good news. Personally, though, I was surprised by the ratings data that NBC released along with the renewal news.
Ratings data released in support of renewals is often Live+Same day, Live+3 day, and/or Live+7 day to show the size of the audience in the 18-49 age demographic who watched an episode within the first week. In announcing the renewals, NBC provided Live+35 day totals for how many people watched within a little over a month. Here's how averages for the 2024 TV season rank, across all platforms:
- Chicago Fire: 12.6 million viewers
- Chicago P.D.: 12.0 million viewers
- Law & Order: SVU: 11.2 million viewers
- Chicago Med: 10.5 million viewers
- Law & Order: 7.7 million viewers
The One Chicago totals in particular are interesting to me due to how much of a difference a month makes. According to Spoiler TV, Chicago Fire's current twelfth season is averaging a Live+Same day audience of 6.61 million viewers, followed by Chicago Med Season 9 with 6.56 million viewers and then finally Chicago P.D. Season 11 with 5.38 million viewers.
In the Live+35 totals, Chicago P.D. averages 1.5 million more viewers than Med and isn't too far off from Fire. According to NBC, the Windy City series are the top three Wednesday night shows on network TV this season and rank in the Top 10 primetime shows.
I'm not particularly shocked that SVU has the edge on Law & Order, although I didn't anticipate the gap being quite as significant as it is in Live+35. SVU is currently the #1 entertainment show on Thursdays in the 18-49 demo. The bigger surprise to me is that Law & Order: Organized Crime hasn't been renewed or given any Live+35 ratings data.
What About Law & Order: Organized Crime?
The odd show out in this renewal news is Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime, currently airing its fourth season on Thursday nights. OC is by far the newest of the six Wolf Entertainment shows on NBC, but has extremely strong ties to SVU thanks to Elliot Stabler's connection with Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson. According to NBC, the status of OC is still in discussion at the time of writing.
It's not unprecedented for Organized Crime to be treated a little differently than the other two L&O shows; when all three were renewed in 2023, Organized Crime was expected to run for just 13 episodes with a midseason premiere while the other two received their usual orders for 20+ starting in the fall. The production delays from the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike ultimately mean that all three will ultimately run for an expected 13. Plus, OC tells stories across multi-episode arcs as opposed to the more procedural SVU and Law & Order.
Still, in light of the ratings data for the five renewed shows, I decided to take a look at some numbers for OC Season 4. Live+35 totals weren't readily available, but the Live+Same averages from Spoiler TV demonstrate that Meloni's show isn't winning on Thursday nights. Organized Crime is currently averaging an audience of 3.58 million on Thursdays, while SVU averages 5.03 million and Law & Order averages 4.73 million. If Organized Crime doesn't get a big delayed viewing boost like Chicago P.D., then it could well be the lowest-rated of the three L&O shows in Live+35.
Of course, there are a lot of variables that make OC''s future difficult to speculate about with any certainty. Shows that air in the 10 p.m. ET slot of primetime are often the lowest-rated and least-watched in Live+Same day totals, and Chicago P.D. is proof of how much an audience can grow with delayed viewership. Plus, it's entirely possible that the ongoing discussions about OC's future concern factors like the cast than ratings. I personally don't think NBC will axe Organized Crime and put an end to Law & Order Thursdays.
Still, we can only wait and see. You can find all six of the Wolf Entertainment shows streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription now. One Chicago Wednesdays kick off at 8 p.m. ET with Chicago Med before Fire at 9 p.m. and P.D. at 10 p.m. Law & Order Thursdays start at 8 p.m. ET with the original series, followed by SVU at 9 p.m. and Organized Crime at 10 p.m., all on NBC.
