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Review: NBC's 'Chicago Fire' fails to ignite

Lots of pretty firefighters and paramedics, but not many compelling characters

By Alan Sepinwall Wednesday, Oct 10, 2012 3:30 PM

  • Critic's Rating C
  • Readers' Rating B-
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<p>Taylor Kinney's torso is on display in "Chicago Fire."</p>

Taylor Kinney's torso is on display in "Chicago Fire."

Credit: NBC
Practically since the dawn of television, there's been a Holy Trinity of acceptable professions: cops, doctors, and lawyers. (For a while, there were also cowboys, but most of them were essentially cops with bigger hats.) If your main characters have one of those three jobs, you will not lack for storylines, nor, most of the time, for interested viewers.
 
For some reason, firefighters have never really cracked that list, despite being heroic public servants like cops, life-savers like doctors and having cool accessories, vehicles, Dalmations, stunts, thrills, etc. There have been successful dramas about firemen from time to time, but not nearly as many as for the other occupations, and often requiring a twist. "Third Watch" also had cops and paramedics as part of the mix, and the firefighters were usually last in the show's pecking order. "Rescue Me" ran seven seasons, but was always at least half a comedy about Dennis Leary's relationship problems.
 
The challenge with firefighting as the subject of an ongoing drama series — a challenge that's amply on display in NBC's forgettable new "Chicago Fire" (it debuts tonight at 10 p.m.) — is that the hero isn't trying to stop a person, but a literal force of nature. Fire is scary and comes in many varieties, but it doesn't have a personality. It's not looking for revenge and doesn't toss off memorable dialogue. So the conflict among the characters has to come almost entire from within: Do I want to keep risking my life every day for other people? Do I trust the guy on the truck next to me? Do I need another drink to make it through this shift?
 
And that can work if the characters are deep enough. (Whatever the flaws of "Rescue Me," Tommy Gavin kept things interesting for a very long time.) If they're as shallow as the ones on "Chicago Fire," though, then you're left with a lot of pretty fire and good-looking people in ash-covered uniforms.
 
"Chicago Fire" is produced by "Law & Order" maestro Dick Wolf, but was created by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, and they've fashioned a crew of stock types, including upright hero Lt. Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer from "House," neutered by an American accent), his bad boy rival from the rescue squad Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney from "The Vampire Diaries"), wise firehouse chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker from "Oz"), eager rookie Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett), wisecracking veteran Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg from "Sex and the City"). There's no character you haven't seen before. More importantly, there's no character that hasn't been done much, much better elsewhere. The chief character comes close to transcending the type, just through the distinctive fury of Walker's performance (few in the business can jut their jaw as well), but it's a bland group of people dealing with clichéd situations. Jeffrey DeMunn from "The Walking Dead" shows up briefly in the second episode as the victim of a construction site collapse and acts Taylor Kinney off the screen. (Construction is also not a profession that seems ideally suited for a weekly drama, but I'd have rather followed that guy home than Severide.)
 
"Third Watch" wasn't always so fabulous with the characterization, either, but it compensated with how well the rescue scenes were shot. (It took the action movie ethos of sister show "ER" and took it outdoors.) The action on "Chicago Fire" is competent but unspectacular; "Rescue Me," working with a much lower basic cable budget, produced a greater sense of dread each time its guys went into a burning building.
 
Wolf's philosophy with "Law & Order" was that the story was always the star, and the characters could be replaced when necessary. You can pull that off if your characters are cops and district attorneys, but when they're firemen, they have to be able to carry an hour of television every week. Through three episodes of "Chicago Fire," there's no one I felt the need to ever see again.
 
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Related Searches: Fall TV Preview 2012, Chicago Fire, Taylor Kinney, Jesse Spencer, Eamonn Walker, Dick Wolf

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    erika_herzog

    The picture you chose totally cracked me up. Shockingly good looking man.

    Among a season of somewhat spectacularly medium to mediocre shows this show blends right in. Not as boring as Made in Jersey (sob, RIP!) but not doing much to be something memorable.

    I am giving it a few episodes for the cast I do like but it's not the easiest slog.

    October 10, 2012 at 4:00PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Action_Kate

    ...what is the point of hiring Jesse Spencer and not letting him use his delicious accent?

    October 10, 2012 at 4:06PM EST Reply to Comment
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      sally t So true. Had Spencer merely done a few supporting movie roles or even been on a short-lived series that would be one thing. But for the last eight years we heard his genuine Aussie accent on a iconic drama, and then he immediately goes right into a new series where he has to speak with an American accent that anyone with half a brain should realize is going to be scrutinized more than most. I'm not sure what the point was of hiring him for this role, either. Seems to me there are plenty of buff American actors out there that could have filled the role.

      October 10, 2012 at 4:21PM EST
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    heatseeker

    I usually give shows like this a shot because I'm a paramedic working in a firehouse and I get a kick out of seeing my job on screen. I can say unequivocally that of all the fire-rescue shows I've ever seen (Third Watch, Trauma, Rescue Me, more that I can't remember the titles of), this is by far the most laughably unrealistic and inaccurate one of the bunch, from both a fire and a medic perspective (but especially the medic stuff--GOOD GOD NO). I sat through the pilot like Dwight Schrute in that scene where Jim is faux-recounting the plot of Battlestar Galactica. Horrible. Just awful.

    Beyond that, it's a crappy show with crappy writing and crappy acting, so yeah, nothing to see here, move right along.

    October 10, 2012 at 9:16PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Prettok

    How is Eamon Walker's Chicago accent?

    October 11, 2012 at 12:20AM EST Reply to Comment
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    quicksloth

    Before I learned Eamonn Walker is in this, the inept commercials NBC has aired gave me zero reason to want to watch. It looks like the same tired, hamfisted, shallow tripe we've been subjected to over and over from the various networks. Now that I know Eamonn Walker is in it, I'll give it a shot but this review gives me reason to believe it will be a wasted hour. In any case, as ever, the fault is with viewers since they rarely fail to support idiotic nonsense about pretty cops/doctors/FBI agents/etc. while systematically ignoring virtually anything with a hint of complexity or ambiguity.

    October 11, 2012 at 12:46PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Write a comment...me and the wife both enjoys Chicago fire

    November 23, 2012 at 4:33PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Me

    I love Chicago Fire. I watch it every week. It's better than a lot of the other crap on television. Maybe it improved overtime (I never saw the beginning episodes)...or maybe Alan Sepinwall is too shortsighted and egotistical to know what unfolds as good storyline and what holds an audience or not.

    January 5, 2013 at 2:36PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Jayneisthebest

    I love the show, i watch it every week. Its a lot better than a lot of other shows. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean others don't. And since when does a show have to be realistic to be good? (aka Walking dead?!?, Any soap opera, ect ect).

    February 4, 2013 at 6:01PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Firefighter

    I think Chicago Fire has improved quite a bit since the first few episodes. I am a full time firefighter and so I can see where the errors are when it comes to how the medicals are performed and also any of the other runs they have. But I still enjoy the show and also the publicity that our profession gets with this show. The only ones who really see the errors are those of us who know better, and I just take this as a chance to think about what I would ACTUALLY do in certain situations that are depicted here. All in all, I think it's a better show than most of the other trash out there.

    March 6, 2013 at 4:29PM EST Reply to Comment
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      PayJay1 I like the show. Sure it could use some work but tv isn't what it used to be. There is some believable character development and I don't think you should totally trash the series just because it's not like some of the others. Because to be frank some of the other shows you've compared it too aren't that great themselves. All I'm saying is don't cast or off completely until you've seen it.

      May 13, 2013 at 7:26PM EST
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      PayJay1 Sorry didn't mean to put that as a reply lol wrong button.

      May 13, 2013 at 7:28PM EST

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