Chicago Fire, NCIS Among Latest Shows to Halt Production Over COVID-19
Paul Dailly
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More broadcast TV shows are putting production on hold due to COVID-19.
NBC's Chicago Fire has halted production on the tenth season of the beloved series following positive COVID test results, Deadline reports.
Production was underway Tuesday but halted on Wednesday as contact tracing got underway.
As of now, a production restart will be early next week, but this could change.
The news dropped on the same day ABC dramas Grey's Anatomy, The Rookie, and Station 19 confirmed they would be returning to production a few days later than planned.
NCIS: Los Angeles, meanwhile, was set to return to production following its holiday break this month, but that break has now been extended into February.
Parent series, NCIS, has also paused.
NCIS: Hawai'i remains in production in Hawaii, where two NCIS favorites are currently shooting a crossover with the Hawai'i crew.
As of now, all of the shows are expected to continue as planned with their on-air schedules, but any further delays could have a knock-on effect on their future episodes.
COVID cases have been rising across the globe, and if we take a look at how things happened in 2020, it's possible several shows will be off the air for months.
The broadcast networks were forced to embrace acquired programming from other countries in the fall of 2020 in response to the pandemic.
If the delays continue on these shows, we could be looking at shorter than anticipated seasons.
Dynamic episode orders could return, leaving some of the conflicts set for the current seasons to play out when the shows can return.
All of the shows halted are slam dunks for renewal, so there's no worry that any of these shows will be canceled without resolution.
ABC canceled Stumptown, despite its second-season renewal due to issues brought on by the pandemic.
Netflix canceled The Society and GLOW.
What are your thoughts on these latest delays for some of these shows?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
