Three of Dick Wolf’s franchises — “Law & Order,” “One Chicago” and “FBI” — were the most-viewed broadcast series of their respective season premiere nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Universal Television serves as the studio for each.
“FBI” brought in 6.8 million viewers while airing its Season 5 premiere on CBS at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, making it the most-watched broadcast series of the week excluding sports programming. The Season 2 premiere of “FBI: International” followed at 9 p.m. and was the second-most-watched program of the night with 5.3 million viewers. The last Wolf premiere of the night was “FBI: Most Wanted” Season 4 at 10 p.m., bringing in 5.1 million viewers, a time period high.
Wednesday marked the return of the “One Chicago” franchise, which airs on NBC. The night began with the Season 8 premiere of “Chicago Med,” which drew in 6.6 million viewers. That number grew by slightly 9 p.m. when “Chicago Fire” premiered as the most-watched broadcast series of the night with 6.7 million viewers. In third place for the night with 5.5 million viewers was the premiere of the 10th season of “Chicago P.D.” at 10 p.m.
And on Thursday, NBC saw a crossover event linking new seasons of the “Law & Order” franchise. First, at 8 p.m., was “Law & Order” Season 22 with 4.7 million viewers, which grew to 5.5 million in time for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” Season 24 at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. was “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” which drew almost 5 million viewers.
Additionally, of the nine Wolf Entertainment series that returned during fall TV premiere week, seven brought in higher ratings than their most recent series finales. Those were “FBI,” “FBI: International,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime” and “Chicago Med.”
