The Chicago Sun-Times has an article today about the upcoming TV show Chicago Fire.

 

As flames lap at a River North building, Mayor Rahm Emanuel emerges to survey the scene in the pilot for the new NBC drama “Chicago Fire.”

Executive producer Dick Wolf — the force behind the “Law & Order” franchise — personally asked Emanuel to make that cameo.

“I called him up and he said, ‘I don’t know, is that good for the city?’ ” Wolf recalled. “I said, ‘Well, every mayor since [New York’s David] Dinkins has been on the ‘Law & Orders’ and it sure hasn’t hurt New York.”

“Chicago Fire” follows the drama both inside and outside Chicago Firehouse 51, home to the sometimes clashing clans of firefighters, rescue squad members and paramedics.

While shooting the pilot earlier this year in Chicago, the actors spent time training and going on ride-alongs with bona fide first responders. One drill had them entering a sweltering, smoke-filled room wearing 50-some pounds of gear.

hat’s why Wolf and series’ creators Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, the writing team behind the film “3:10 to Yuma,” brought on Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Steve Chikerotis as a consultant. A lot of the extras are off-duty firefighters, too.

“They’re the only ones who know how to wear the equipment, carry the stuff,” Wolf said. “Hopefully over the course of the show we’re going to give a lot of firefighters some overtime.”

The “Chicago Fire” cast didn’t stick around long after Tuesday’s meeting with TV critics; they had to fly back to Chicago to start filming episode two at 6 a.m. Wednesday. The show premieres Oct. 10.

With a title like “Chicago Fire,” it’s no surprise that battling flames will be an integral part of the show. … But Wolf made it clear this won’t be a fire-of-the-week procedural.

“It’s a character study,” he said. “What we’re trying to do here is a classic, adult, NBC platinum drama.”

What he’s not trying to do: Replicate “Rescue Me,” the critically acclaimed FX series that centered on a New York firefighter (Denis Leary) struggling to cope with the loss of his best friend who died in the 9/11 attacks. That series ended its seven-year run last fall.

“Chicago Fire” also features a death and the subsequent fallout, but Wolf insists that’s where the similarities end.

“Nobody is talking to ghosts” in “Chicago Fire,” he said. “ ‘Rescue Me’ was a brilliant show but it was completely an internal vision. This is really an internal and external vision. It’s a true ensemble as opposed to a single-lead show.”

The complete article can be found HERE.

thanks Chris