A dapper Mayor Rahm Emanuel emerges to survey a burning building as a camera crew follows his every step. Emanuel, a former ballet dancer, is gorgeous but grim-faced — and he’s perfect for the role as himself in the Dick Wolf series “Chicago Fire.”
“Chicago Fire” follows Chicago Firehouse 51, a bustling hub of firefighters, paramedics and rescue squads, and, yes there will be a fire of the week, and yes, the drama is too hot to handle for the first responders at times.
Wolf has often placed real-life mayors, i.e., New York’s David Dinkins, in his “Law & Order” franchise to give his dramas that extra dose of reality, and the formula works. For added authenticity, Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Steve Chikerotis consults the show, and series’ creators Derek Haas and Michael Brandt employ off-duty firefighters as extras.
Naperville, Ill., native David Eigenberg of “Sex and the City,” portrays a veteran firefighter in the series.
Eigenberg and other cast members, Eamonn Walker (“Oz”), Monica Raymund (“The Good Wife”), Jesse Spencer (“House”), Taylor Kinney (“The Vampire Diaries”), Lauren German (“Hawaii Five-O”), shadowed first responders to prepare for their roles, and drills included hoisting 50 pounds of equipment on their backs as they entered smoke-filled rooms.
“Chicago Fire” is the second show Dick Wolf Productions has produced in the city. In 2001, Wolf produced a critically acclaimed TV documentary series called “Arrest and Trial,” with host Brian Dennehy.
True to form, Wolf is poised to make waves again.
“Chicago Fire” premieres Oct. 10 on NBC, and audiences will be blown away by it, Wolf promises. “It’s a character study,” he says. “What we’re trying to do here is a classic, adult, NBC platinum drama.”
