Behind the scenes at 'Chicago Med' TV show


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Chicago — "Chicago Med" is on course to be yet another heart-racing drama on NBC. The show stars Dr. Will Halstead played by actor Nick Gehlfuss and Dr. Connor Rhodes played by Colin Donnell. The crew works tirelessly to make those technical trauma scenes so realistic.

"Welcome to our fun house," said Dr. Andrew Dennis as KSL visited the show's set.

Dennis is a trauma surgeon in Chicago and now, in addition to his daily rounds, he is a technical advisor on the set of "Chicago Med." He makes sure the guys pretending to do his job on TV can actually pull it off.

"They started in boot camps," Dennis said. "They translated 10 years of medicine into three days. This is a huge accomplishment, huge."

The actors received suture kits to practice their crafts at home and even learned how to intubate.

"You can't script all of that there is too much," Dennis said. "These guys learn how to do it for real."

Suzie Schelling, a nurse in the real world, is always nearby to make sure all the little details come together. As often as possible, actual doctors and anesthesiologists are cast as extras. However, it can't all be real of course.

"Is anyone squeamish?" asked Dennis.

You will see a lot of blood when you watch the show. It's created using corn syrup and some red dye.

Gehlfuss is excited at the prospect of playing a doctor.

"I've always been inspired by doctors, so I had hoped to, but it's really a surreal experience," he said.

If the newest installment in the Chicago trilogy has the same staying power and success of its predecessors, you'll be in the operating room with this cast for years to come.

Chicago Fire and Chicago PD

The Cinespace Chicago Film Studios is home to filming of both "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD". KSL got a front row seat to see all that goes into making both of these shows.

Crews from "Chicago Fire" showed how easily they can control a fire intentionally set to a car used in their show.

The flames, smoke and the heat were all very real.

"When we're in the actual gear, we're masked up, we've got the hoods on and we'll be next to the fire in a house that's actually burning," said David Eigenberg, an actor who appears in "Chicago Fire."

Technical advisors to the show told KSL they use no CGI or green screens.

"The adrenaline that flows through you, there is no acting involved," Eamonn Walker another actor on "Chicago Fire" said.

The actors rely heavily on Steve Chikerotis or "Chik" as he's known around the set.

Chikerotis is a 36 year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department.

"They came to Chicago, we ran a mini boot camp at the training academy," Chikerotis said. "We spent four days going through drills."

He's on set every day making sure the show accurately portrays what it looks like to be a firefighter and what it means.

"I sometimes write the episode or the portion of the episode that they're doing and I'll have a tear in my eye because they're that good," Chikerotis said. "(The actors) really bring it to life and I feel it."

When it comes to shooting exterior fire scenes, a production team scouts out shooting locations ahead of time. When the cameras start rolling, pyrotechnic professionals set small controlled fire to portions of a real house after obtaining permission from the homeowner.

"Inside is us working and half of whoever's house we're filming in will actually still have all their furniture still in there," Chikerotis said.

When the scene wraps, crews repair everything, leaving it as good as new.

Chicago PD

On the set of Chicago PD, KSL got to witness the work that goes into preparing for a complex arrest scene.

The actors practice technical scenes dozens of times before getting it right. Brian Luce, is the man making sure it is all authentic and true to how a real police officer would perform duties.

"I don't play about it," said Luce. "When they come here and they're I front of me I don't have a filter and I don't lie."

Luce is a 27 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. His father was killed in the line of duty and more recently, his own partner. If you look closely, in some scenes both their pictures can be seen memorialized on the set walls.

Actors refer to Luce as the heartbeat of the entire show.

"That's probably the biggest compliment I ever got besides being told I was a good father," Luce said.

He wants to make sure the people who could be perhaps the biggest critics of all approve.

"All my (police officer) friends I've worked with absolutely love the show," said Luce.

"We'll be on the street shooting and it will be quiet and we'll hear shouting," said Jesse Lee Soffer, an actor who plays an officer on the show. "I want to say, ‘oh come on, we're filming' and I turn around and it's a squad car and the officers are cheering us on."

Chicago PD can be seen Wednesday's at 9pm on KSL. Chicago Fire can be seen Tuesdays at 9pm on KSL.

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Ashley Kewish

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