Via Gapers Block, J.J. Abrams's new NBC show (the pilot is directed by Jon Favreau) gives us a look at Chicago in the sequel to Cold Fusion after all the electricity disappears:
It's sort of like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles but with crossbows. Conveniently, the U. of C.'s Scav Hunt is already on the case:
I finally built my time machine, and I brought my laptop back to the Renaissance to show Da Vinci how unimpressive his little “inventions” are. I even remembered to bring my charger! But I forgot that there are no plugs. Build me a mechanism that can charge a laptop using only materials I could find and use in the 16th century. [16 points]
If you can't wait, there's always I Am Alive to tide you over:
Chicago: catching up to New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo in terms of depictions of the apocalypse. Clearly, a global city.
And then there's Dick Wolf's Chicago Fire, featuring a hilarious Mayor Emanuel doppelganger (update: well I'll be darned, he's the second big-city mayor to appear in a Dick Wolf show) and lots of abs:
That's Law and Order Dick Wolf, not local math-pop band Dick Wolf!.