Chicago Fire's Wasting Its One Real-Life Hero Character in Vain
For a show claiming to give power and properly show the lives of modern-day heroes, Chicago Fire gives an inexcusably petty amount of screen time to the one actor who really is a hero in real life.
Chicago One has always been about the people who make our lives safer and take massive risks every day.
While it's true for all three sister shows, Chicago Fire is about the men and women whose profession literally demands that they save you or die trying; those whose loved ones never know if they'll return from another shift.
Firefighters are heroes, and there's no understatement. For Chicago Fire, it's always been crucial to show their lives, the dangers they face, and the drama they're involved in on a daily basis as close to real life as possible.
They even have expert firefighters to ensure everything is made and performed properly.
This is some serious dedication, but it raises even more questions when you think about how underappreciated Tony is in this show.
Anthony Ferraris is not just another actor that plays a secondary role as Tony; he's also one of the experts of Chicago Fire — and a real-life firefighter.
Ferraris is assigned to the Windy City's Fire Department 2 and is actively performing his duties whenever he's not on the show's set.
While this made Anthony the perfect expert for Chicago Fire, we need to address just how little appreciation the show has for his character.
Does anyone remember Tony saying more than one or two lines in a single episode? Neither do we.
Tony's been around since the first season of Chicago Fire and even made guest appearances in its sister shows: Med and PD.
Fans can remember him since day one, and it's fairly obvious Ferraris is not just your average extra: the man spends a lot of time helping the project as an expert and plays his role in the series as a bonus.
It doesn't seem right that, considering all of this, the most we hear from Tony is one or two reactive lines — an affirmative or a brief sitrep.
It's great that Anthony Ferraris was invited in the first place, but he's clearly very invested in Chicago Fire, and this man, unlike his performer colleagues, is a living hero and an active firefighter — give him some proper screen time, for goodness sake!
He totally deserved it as a man, and his character can totally do with more recognition and appreciation.