For years now, the One Chicago franchise has dominated Wednesday nights, and I assumed that will stay true on the 2025 TV schedule. The complete three hours of NBC programming have been my go-to on Wednesdays for fairly a while now. Whereas Chicago Med, Chicago Fireplace, and Chicago P.D. are nonetheless sturdy within the scores, now ABC is coming in scorching, competing in my coronary heart and with total eyeballs.
Allen made his return to community TV in January together with his brand-new sitcom Shifting Gears, which additionally stars fellow sitcom star Kat Dennings. The sequence airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET (aka the identical time as Chicago Med). Whereas Shifting Gears is simply a half hour versus Med’s hour-long airtime, the previous is extra uplifting and a faster watch. Not solely that, however these searching for a bit of nostalgia of their lives can discover it with Shifting Gears, which is sweet followers searching for a little bit of Dwelling Enchancment and Final Man Standing nostalgia.
Many followers really feel equally to me about their Wednesday evening lineup lately. TVLine experiences Shifting Gears is changing into a scores behemoth within the 8 p.m. ET slot on Wednesdays, and Chicago Med must be careful. The sitcom’s February 12 episode introduced in 4.5 million whole viewers and was up in week-to-week viewers with a demo of 0.4. In fact, it was a bit simpler for the reason that One Chicago reveals have been on break that week, however it’s value noting the premiere episode final month was almost on par with Med’s scores.
Regardless that we’re just a few episodes in, Shifting Gears has confirmed to be a formidable opponent on Wednesdays. The sequence simply introduced in Final Man Standing’s Nancy Travis for a reunion with Tim Allen. Jay Leno can even be dropping by sooner or later after recurring on Final Man Standing. And even if you happen to haven’t seen Final Man Standing, it’s nonetheless enjoyable to look at merely realizing there’s a earlier historical past there.
That doesn’t imply the Chicago reveals aren’t nonetheless thrilling and attractive as a result of they positively are. If the One Chicago crossover is any proof, the franchise remains to be pulling out all of the stops and surprises. There’s not finish in sight for the franchise, but, both.
It’s a disgrace having to select and select each week which present to look at reside, however at the least Chicago Med is streaming with a Peacock subscription and Shifting Gears is streaming with a Hulu subscription, so not all is misplaced. Wednesday nights are truthfully changing into the brand new Thursdays: with enjoyable, attractive, thrilling and dramatic tasks on the horizon. And we’re nowhere close to finale season but.