A show about firefighters will automatically deliver dramatic and dangerous situations, and the new series Chicago Fire is no exception. Every time the firemen (There were no firewomen. Booooo!) rushed into a burning building or the paramedics tried to save a life, I was glued to the screen. Unfortunately, you can’t have an entire show with back-to-back danger scenarios, and that is where this show struggles.

There was an impossible amount of characters to keep up with. Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) is the main character who is struggling with his relationship as well as guilt after losing a fellow fireman during a rescue. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) is part of the notorious rescue squad who consider themselves the best of the best of the best. Matthew and Kelly have some bad blood between them because they each blame the other for the loss of the fireman, and it seems that Kelly is addicted to some intense pain meds.

Then, there is Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund), a paramedic who struggles with self doubt about her abilities to treat patients, and Leslie Shay (Lauren German) who is almost as unfeeling as an android. The newbie of the group is Peter Mills (Charlie Bennett), whose naïveté is endearing.

If I only had those characters to worry about, I think I would have been able to connect with them and care more about them. Unfortunately, I was required to remember the drama going on with the fire chief, a guy whose house got repossessed, a weird guy named Otis and a few more people that I just didn’t care about.

On top of the bombardment of personalities to keep track of, the main characters seemed to only display two emotions: anger and no emotion at all. The entire time, I felt as if something was missing. There just wasn’t enough character development to separate it from being a documentary.

BUT…and this is a big but. The preview for the next episode looks a lot more intense and definitely more interesting than this one, so here’s hoping the show will improve.

Chicago Fire information:

When: Wednesdays, 9 p.m.

Where: NBC