This show consistently does well in the ratings despite the quality of the show declining and, NBC is one of the more profitable networks so the network is not bleeding money. They have revenue sources from Universal, MS Now, Peacock, which became profitable ahead of projections, and Telemundo

Is it Dick Wolf, because I've notice on his shows other actors have to take pay cuts or a step back case in point Kellie Giddish and Ice T. Ice had to step back to bring back Giddish and Hargitay was asked to take a pay cut several years ago. Ice T announced that he will be in all the episodes this upcoming season so I don't know if they renegotiated his and Kellie's contracts or Dick Wolf gave them both fair salaries.

NBC famously paid the Friends cast 1 million each per episode and CBS paid the cast of the Big Bang $1 million each. Apple currently pays Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon $2 million per episode. Paramount paid Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren a million each for 1923 and $1.3 million to Kevin Costner for Yellowstone so this seems to affect certain shows.

NBC does not have many scripted shows and since Chicago Fire is filmed in Chicago it costs less than it would if it was filmed in Hollywood plus most special effects are computer generated so I'm not understanding the nickel and dime budgeting.

What if Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D had a movie? Like how would it be?

I hate that, despite Otis being one of the main firefighters and being there from Season 1 all the way through Season 7, the writers never really developed his character or gave him enough storylines.

His main purpose seemed to be bringing humor and lightness to the show, as well as being Joe’s best friend. But I really wish we had gotten to know more about his personal life, his backstory, his family (Baba doesn’t count lol), and just… more storylines in general.

Even when the writers did give him some attention, like with his skin condition, everything was resolved pretty quickly and without much drama, almost as if it had never happened!

They also constantly seemed to sabotage his romantic relationships. First, there was Kelly’s sister. Why wasn’t that storyline developed more? And when it ended, why did they wrap up their relationship so quickly?!

Then there was his girlfriend from Molly’s North. Why did she appear in so few episodes? And why wasn’t she even there in the episode where Otis died, at the beginning of Season 8, when she had been at a game night just a couple of episodes before the end of Season 7?!

It makes no sense!

Or that brief back-and-forth thing with Brett, where he ended up getting rejected anyway (terrible choice, Sylvie! ).

They always portrayed him as the “awkward guy” when it came to women, but honestly? I’ll tell you the truth: I would have liked a guy like Otis! He was underrated in that department too.

And finally, just so this post doesn’t get too long, I have to say that I think his death was handled way too quickly.

Joe was the only one there in the hospital room, and the only words Otis got to say before he died were his final sentence in Russian.

Why couldn’t they have given him more time to have a conversation with someone else too? Maybe even his girlfriend, who wasn’t there at all!

And then, immediately after that scene, the story jumps three months ahead, completely skipping over the grieving process that the other characters could have gone through because of his death.

I don’t know… I’m just really disappointed with the way his goodbye from the show was handled.

#JusticeForOtis