Chicago Fire was at the time it premiered, in 2012, the newest entry into the massive Wolf production machine which includes the various installments of the Law and Order Franchise. This involved a Firehouse in Chicago, Firehouse 51, and revolved around the members of the truck crew, headed by Jesse Spencer's character Lieutenant Matthew Casey, the rescue squad crew, headed by Taylor Kinney's character as Lieutenant Kelly Severide, and the Ambulance unit, headed by Monica Raymund's Gabriella Dawson. The show was mostly an episodic case/accident of the week kind of show intertwined with the lives of the various characters in the firehouse. In many episodes, there were several minor accidents the crew had to deal with and then one major accident. The show starts out with an accident that kills a member of the firehouse and causes tension between Casey and Severide that lasts for part of the season. The show does a great job with character development and does more than just make the show about the accidents/action and nothing else. It really makes the audience care about the characters, which definitely helps when they are put into life and death situations, which happens often (as you can imagine). The show has a strong main and recurring cast including Lauren German, Charlie Barnett, Eamonn Walker, and David Eigenberg. The show also introduces characters played by Jon Seda, Jason Beghe, and LaRoyce Hawkins, who would later become a part of the spin-off show Chicago PD, in a story arc that runs throughout a good chunk of the season.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include several behind-the-scenes featurettes of varying length, but mostly in the 3-4 minute range, and then a series of in-character podcasts by Otis (played by Yuri Sardarov). So, if you like going through the bonus material, there is quite a bit there.

Overall, the show is a good mix of action and drama with a little bit of humor mixed in. It juggles the large ensemble cast well and really does a good job developing the characters which is crucial for a procedural drama. It is well-written and very well acted, so if you are a fan of story-of-the-week procedural shows, this is definitely worth checking out.

Great price

Best show ever

Season 2 will not play in usa.why don't you have it so it does play?

GREAT

ORIGINAL REVIEW from when series first started: This has been a fun show to watch, just to see some of the calls and situations to which they respond, but a lot of what they do both in the firefighting and the EMS part just doesn't seem very realistic (I am both a firefighter and paramedic). I know different parts of the country do things differently, but if I did some of the things they do on their runs, I would probably get fired.

That said, it is still fun to watch, and some of the characters are interesting.

What we really need is more episodes of Emergency!

UPDATE 5/6/19

I have been watching this show since it started, and it has become one of my must-watch favorites. My earlier criticism of the realism has vanished. Allowing for the fact that his is a TV show and not a documentary, the show does a very good job of making the calls seem realistic. Of course, you won't find too many real firefighters jumping off buildings into a river to escape a fire, or paramedics doing a Pericardiocentesis in the back of a moving ambulance, but I am quite surprised at times on just how accurate they try to be. A good example is when the paramedics on the show mention that the patient is in some abnormal rhythm, and that actual rhythm will be on the cardiac monitor. This is certainly NOT the case on many medical programs.

This attention to detail does not extend to the other two prominent firefighter/EMS shows on TV right now: Station 19 and 9-1-1. Station 19 got so bad I had to quit watching, and most weeks I am not sure why I still watch 9-1-1. On that show, I once saw them trying to give Nitro to an unresponsive patient with a systolic BP of 80! When I saw that I actually yelled at the TV "NOOOO." Having been a T.O. for several new paramedics over the years, I guess my instincts just kicked in when I saw them about to kill a patient. But, back to the topic.....

If you like interesting drama, with a reasonably realistic fire/ems setting (again, allowing for dramatic license) then Chicago Fire will fit the bill. And it doesn't hurt that they are based in station 51.

I love this this series. Great cast, exciting plots and consistently entertaining episodes through every season.

If you're a fan of classic shows like Emergency, Third Watch, or the recently canceled SouthLand I think you'll like Chicago Fire. This show has likeable interesting and diverse characters, gripping stories, suspenseful moments, and it's funny at times too. Something I really appreciate is how story lines don't drag out for ridiculously long periods of time. Problems are solved in a timely manner, something doesn't come up on episode 5, get ignored until episode 13, and end up poorly solved on episode 19. The writers know how to get things done on this show! It's a refreshing change from procedural BS and the semi-procedural shows that try to add a serial element but fall short.
I can honestly say I like all of the characters and actors on this show. Of course with any new show it takes some time to appreciate them but one I settled into the show I really liked everyone. Maybe it is a bit soap opera-ish, I've heard people say this but it's not like people are coming back from the dead, have evil twins or are constantly in the middle of paternity disputes. There's just a lot of drama in the characters lives, but that's part of what makes it interesting! These characters have lives, unlike the bland people on the procedural BS shows.
Season 1 of Chicago Fire was very entertaining, can't miss TV. Season 2 has been just as entertaining and I'm sure I'll be adding that to my collection as well. If you'd prefer a more police focused drama check out the spinoff, Chicago PD. Now let's hope NBC is smart enough to keep this around for a while.