New TV shows Single Parents and A Million Little Things made their ratings debuts on Wednesday, against a backdrop of Chicago shows.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Single Parents debuted after Modern Family on ABC, nabbing a 1.3 in the ratings (adults 18-49). The outlet noted that while the new series brought in less viewers than American Housewife did in the same spot last year, it actually held onto more viewers, as Modern Family had a 1.6 rating.
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A Million Little Things did not fair quite as well, as it only came in with a 1.1 in the ratings.
Over on NBC, the many Chicago series’ — Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Fire — all did really well by grabbing 1.2 in the ratings, leading the network to be the number one in overall viewers.
Notably, the season premiere of Chicago Fire was the first one without actress Monica Raymund, who played Gabriela “Gabby” Dawson. Gabby is married to Captain Matthew Casey (played by Jesse Spencer) in the series, and the show will see their relationship continue for now, though with Gabby in another country it will be defined as “long distance.”
In a previous interview, Chicago Fire showrunner Derek Haas spoke about Raymund’s exit and how it would affect their plans for the show.
“I was definitely caught off-guard that [Raymund] was not going to come back. That’s not to say that she didn’t give us plenty of time, because she did. But in my head, that was all just end-of-year negotiating or whatever,” Haas stated, then quipping, “I didn’t think that she really wasn’t going to come back.”
Regarding the way the show will handle Gabby ad Dawson’s relationship, Haas said that divorce is not being considered yet, but that Gabby leaving is “is a big blow to the marriage.”
“A realistic thing happens sometimes when a partner in a marriage takes a long-distance job, and so then you have to deal with a new reality to your relationship. That’s what Casey’s dealing with,” Haas said. “We actually did a lot of research about the modern long-distance relationship, and how those are dealt with and/or overcome and/or fraught with danger.”
He later shared that while the change was unexpected, it provided a new challenge for the writers to explore something they had not yet had the opportunity to.
“Any time there’s a change in relationships for our characters, from a writing standpoint, it becomes exciting, because a slate gets wiped clean, and you get to come up with new stories and new ideas and generate new thoughts,” Haas went on to say, adding that it’s still “a catch-22, because I liked them in a relationship, and I like exploring marriage and different facets of marriage, and things our viewers can relate to.”
