When Does Chicago Med Come Back on in 2017

CHICAGO MED -- "White Butterflies" Episode 222 -- Pictured: (l-r) Nick Gehlfuss as Will Halstead, Torrey DeVitto as Natalie Manning -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

'Chicago Med' moves to midseason as NBC shakes up schedule

NBC has bumped 'Chicago Med' from its fall schedule to its midseason schedule, meaning that Season 3 won't premiere until at least November.

NBC has put Chicago Med on the move. The network announced its fall schedule on Sunday, and Med isn't on it—instead, the series is being held till midseason, which means fans won't see the third season until at least November or as late as January.

The show's former Thursdays at 9 p.m. time slot will now be occupied by This Is Us, which is back for its second season.

Chicago Med will move to Thursdays at 10 p.m. but wait to premiere until after Dick Wolf's newest series Law & Order: True Crime wraps its first season, according to media reports. As that's only eight episodes long, that means Med is on track for November at the earliest, depending on what NBC chooses to do with its schedule over the holidays.

It's an unexpected and potentially dangerous move for Chicago Med. The series had fought hard in its current time slot, but its biggest problem was being incompatible with the comedies NBC put in front of it. Its most recent lead-in Powerless was just cancelled.

But NBC is sticking with comedies on Thursdays, which will now be home to the revival of Will & Grace and the new series Great News, and opted to relocate Med.

While we don't have an exact Season 3 date for our favorite doctors, the prevailing wisdom is that Med is less a midseason show and more just taking a pause. Law & Order: True Crime will only be on the air for two months, so Med would ostensibly step in immediately afterward, unless there's a holiday break.

It will then have This Is Us as its lead-in, which is fantastic news—One Chicago fans have seen what that show has been able to do for Chicago Fire on Tuesdays. And This Is Us is a better segue between the Thursday comedies and the drama of Med, creating hopefully a stronger night overall for NBC.

However, this strategy isn't without its peril. It also means a delay in seeing the third season for at least two months, and it further breaks up the One Chicago brand—leaving just two of the four shows together in the fall (the fourth, Chicago Justice, is still up in the air and the fact that it wasn't on Sunday's schedule isn't good either).

For comparison, Chicago Med aired its eighth episode this season on November 10th. But it then was off the air for the holidays until January 5th. So will NBC risk putting Med back on right away and having it run originals during a period where ratings are normally weak, or hold it until January when it will have a bigger audience but a larger hiatus?

Another fact to consider about this development is that it probably means a reduced season of Chicago Med. It'll have to give those first eight weeks over to True Crime, and if NBC wants to have all the One Chicago shows ending at the same time as was the case this year, then Med would be short a few installments.

An eight-episode loss would bring the show's count down to 15, though a traditional midseason order is 13. (No specifics of Season 3 were given when the show was renewed Wednesday.)

It's both disappointing and hopefully promising to hear. Med is more than worthy of a spot on the fall schedule, and the One Chicago brand obviously works better when the series are together, as this season has proved. This can be taken as a bad sign—or, and we're going to cross our fingers here, a good one that Med can get out from under its schedule woes and continue to kick behind after a strong Season 2.

You can see NBC's full 2017-2018 schedule release here.

The good news is that Chicago Med is back, and coming off a fantastic season; the bad news is it's looking like it will have new challenges to face next season.

Chicago Med airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.

When Does Chicago Med Come Back on in 2017

Source: https://onechicagocenter.com/2017/05/14/chicago-med-moves-midseason-nbc-schedule/

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