Chicago Fire's 10th season continued to break NBC's Wednesday viewership records (per Deadline), making it one of the few TV Shows to stay at the top of the charts through that many seasons. Wallace Boden and the rest of Firehouse 51 staff are just as entertaining in their personal lives as they are saving lives in the most intense scenes of the show. Despite being a procedural drama, Chicago Fire reinvents its characters in every season, blending emotional relationships with electrifying action scenes.
Despite having many storylines, the show has never lost its focus on the main themes since the first season, making it easy for the fans to follow. The strong chemistry between the characters and the balance between emotion and action are also enviable, which is why the show's fans will love several equally balanced alternatives.
Station 19 (2018)
Private Practice. Station 19 is a firehouse in Seattle, and just like Firehouse 51, the firefighters have stressful lives at work and lots of drama in their personal lives that often spill over into the office.
With less realism than Chicago Fire, Station 19 has all the drama and intensity of any polished firefighters' TV show. It has similarly complicated workplace romances and intense firefights that test the characters to their limits. The show has managed to keep most of its main characters relevant through six seasons, with an interesting simplicity to the storylines and intense firefight scenes that any Chicago Fire fan would love.
Seal Team (2017)
This show is just like a more intense version of Chicago Fire, with gunships and gunfire replacing firetrucks and hydrants. Seal Team is a military drama that follows the lives of different of an elite task force both on world-saving missions and in their personal lives. It brings a realistic view of what soldiers and their families look like away from the battlefield.
The show has more than just the dramatic firefights in other military dramas. Tyler Grey, who stars as Trent Sawyer, is a former Delta Force ranger who also advises the production on the military scenes, helping to make the show more realistic. The action scenes are still intense and jaw-dropping, just like Chicago Fire firefights. The show also dives into the personal lives of the soldiers, humanizing them just like Chicago Fire does with the Firehouse 51 staff.
The Resident (2018)
The Resident is a popular medical drama similar to One Chicago's Chicago Med, but with a lot more intensity. The show is about daily life at the fictional Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, including the personal lives of the staff led by senior resident doctor Conrad Hawkins.
The show takes the context of a stressful workplace to a higher level with deeper coverage of the bureaucratic hurdles involved in running a hospital. From workplace romance to family problems that make their way to the office, The Resident does everything Chicago Fire does with its characters with more intensity.
Nurses (2020-2021)
Nurses is a medical drama that NBC picked up in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic that has lots of similarities to its One Chicago franchise shows. The show follows five nurses working at the busy St. Mary's Hospital who struggle to help patients amid grueling hospital conditions and their own struggles threatening to crush them.
Nurses gives a clearer picture of what the lives of low-level employees in a hospital look like, with a greater focus on how financial struggles affect people's ability to deliver in the workplace. Like Chicago Fire, Nurses has lots of intense action scenes and plot twists. The show also blends the personal and professional lives of the characters, but it only focuses on five main characters, unlike Chicago Fire's large ensemble cast.
Nightwatch (2015)
Nightwatch is a reality show that films firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical workers as they respond to calls at night in different cities. The first seasons were shot in New Orleans before the show started going to different cities, with the fourth and fifth seasons only covering emergency medical personnel.
Nightwatch gives firefighter show fans a break from the polished Hollywood-style portrayal of emergency service workers but still retains the entertainment aspect with its jaw-dropping cases and a suspense-creating narration that keeps fans engaged.
New Amsterdam (2018)
New Amsterdam is another medical drama that takes the concept of a stressful workplace a notch higher while also diving into the personal lives of the characters. The show follows the staff at New Amsterdam hospital led by Dr. Max Goodwin, who struggles to get the best out of the underfunded and understaffed public hospital.
From complicated romantic relationships in the workplace to risking everything to save lives, New Amsterdam mirrors all the themes covered in Chicago Fire. The intensity is on a higher tone in New Amsterdam, with the show putting more emphasis on the workplace setting than family and romantic relationships.
9-1-1 (2018)
Fox's firefighters TV show has a lot in common with Chicago Fire, including a tightly connected firehouse family that does everything to save lives and help each other. Set in LA, the show follows a group of firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and dispatchers in the same show, unlike Chicago Fire which only focuses on firefighters and paramedics.
even has its own version of Severide called Buck. The chemistry between the characters is strong, with action scenes bearing lots of intensity and emotion, just like in Chicago Fire.
FBI (2018)
FBI is another crime drama created by Dick Wolf, which also employs an ensemble cast just like Chicago Fire. The film follows a group of agents at the FBI's New York Criminal Division dedicated to keeping the city and the country safe, led by special agent Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym).
Like Chicago Fire, the show's characters heavily rely on team spirit to get the job done. The bureaucratic drama involved in running the unit is also similar to what Wallace Boden deals with in Chicago Fire. FBI's biggest focus is the investigative aspect and therefore covers less of the characters' personal lives and relationships, but the chemistry of the entire cast is just as strong as in Chicago Fire.
L.A.'s Finest (2019)
One Chicago procedural dramas, including Chicago Fire, but L.A.'s Finest brings a comedic angle to crime solving.
Like Chicago Fire, which relies on a team to get the job done, detectives Sydney and Nancy have to put aside their personal problems and team up against dangerous criminals. The two-season show employs two strong women as lead characters, unlike Chicago Fire's ensemble cast, but the intensity of action scenes and dedication to public service are similar in both shows.
Harrow (2018)
In Harrow, Daniel Harrow is a forensic pathologist in Queensland who cares more about solving the cases of murder victims brought to his lab rather than just finding out the cause of death. He finds himself leading investigations ahead of Brisbane police detectives while also struggling with personal problems in his family that threaten to tear him apart, just like the characters of Chicago Fire.
Despite having one titular character, Harrow has a lot in common, including a group of public employees dedicated to saving lives in spite of their personal struggles. Both shows employ plot twists and cliffhangers that keep fans yearning for more. Harrow has more comedy and an investigative approach to main themes, though, unlike Chicago Fire's intense, action-packed episodes.