NBC has spent decades building one of television’s most reliable brands around the Law & Order franchise. Created by Dick Wolf, the legal and law enforcement universe has produced multiple long-running series, including Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. At the same time, Wolf successfully launched NBC’s One Chicago universe, which became a ratings powerhouse with Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med.
Not every spinoff, however, was destined to last. Chicago Justice premiered in 2017 but was canceled after just one season. The decision was not driven by poor quality or lack of talent, but by something far more practical.
According to a TV Line story, NBC simply ran out of room.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour that year, then-NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt explained that the network was forced to make difficult choices about how much real estate to dedicate to procedurals. While NBC was pleased with all of its Chicago shows, Greenblatt said Chicago Justice stood out as the most conventional among them.
“It just became somewhat of a real estate issue,” Greenblatt said, noting that the network had to evaluate how many Chicago series it could reasonably sustain. Among them, Chicago Justice most closely resembled Law & Order, a franchise NBC already had in place and performing well.
Greenblatt was even more direct when explaining the final call. “It was the closest to a Law & Order show, so we thought maybe this is the one we should sacrifice,” he said. He emphasized that the cancellation had nothing to do with the show’s creative quality. “It wasn’t because the show wasn’t good. It was really because a lot of other factors.”
In short, NBC did not need two legal procedurals that occupied nearly the same lane.
The One Chicago universe had already become one of the network’s biggest success stories, but a broadcast schedule can only support so many shows built on similar formulas. As Greenblatt acknowledged, NBC needed room for programming beyond procedurals, even if those procedurals were performing respectably.
Chicago Justice featured a strong cast that included Philip Winchester, Carl Weathers, and Monica Barbaro, along with the advantage of built-in crossover exposure from the rest of the Chicago franchise. Under normal circumstances, that combination would have been enough to secure a second season.
Ultimately, though, the show’s similarity to Law & Order worked against it. Greenblatt recalled discussing the issue directly with Wolf, questioning whether there was space on the schedule for yet another Chicago spinoff. “We didn’t need it,” he said. “We just decided that it didn’t make sense.”
With NBC already stocked with Wolf-produced hits, the loss of Chicago Justice was softened by the continued success of the broader franchise. Still, its short run serves as a reminder that even well-made shows can be casualties of scheduling math rather than creative failure.
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