Emergency!
Emergency! | |
---|---|
Also known as | Emergency One! |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Nelson Riddle |
Composers | |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 122 + 6 TV movies (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Editor | Richard Belding |
Running time | approx. 50 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | January 15, 1972 May 28, 1977 | –
Related | |
Emergency! is an American
The series stars
Emergency! was produced by
The series aired at a time when ambulance coverage in the United States was rapidly expanding and changing, and the role of a paramedic was emerging as a profession, and is credited with popularizing the concepts of EMS and paramedics in American society, and even inspiring other states and municipalities to expand the service.[1][2]
Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the
Cast
Set at the fictional Fire Station 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, where one fire engine and the paramedic rescue squad are stationed, the series focuses on two young firefighter-paramedics: young and immature John Roderick "Johnny" Gage (Randolph Mantooth), who is always unlucky in love, and more mature family man Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe), who crew the rescue squad, Squad 51, and, in addition to providing emergency medical care, perform technical rescues such as vehicle extrication.
The paramedics are supervised by the Emergency Room (ER) staff of Rampart General Hospital: head physician Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller), head nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London), neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early (played by London's real-life husband Bobby Troup), and young intern Dr. Michael "Mike" Morton (Ron Pinkard, though in the early episodes was a character named Dr. Thomas Gray).
Other regular characters are the firefighters of Station 51's "A" shift, Chester B. "Chet" Kelly (played by Tim Donnelly) and Marco Lopez (played by actor Marco Lopez). Mike Stoker, a Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighter, drove the fire engine.[5] Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatcher Samuel Lanier portrayed himself in an uncredited voice role (over the radio) throughout the series, and he is also occasionally shown in a brief clip at the dispatch office just before a dispatch is heard in later seasons; he retired from the department shortly after Emergency! finished.[6] Lopez speaks Spanish, and occasionally translated for the crew when a victim or onlooker spoke Spanish but no English. Unusually, Lopez, Stoker and Dick Hammer play characters named after themselves, though in two episodes, Hammer's character is played by John Smith.
Various characters held the rank of Captain throughout the series. These include Captain Dick Hammer (Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Richard Hammer as himself for first season/episodes 1–9, then later John Smith for the last two episodes of the season), Captain Hank Stanley (Michael Norell, during the remaining seasons) and Captain Gene "Captain Hook" Hookrader in a couple of later episodes. Actor John Anderson portrayed Captain Bob Roberts in one Season 4 episode, "Smoke Eater".
Other
- R.N., head nurse
- M.D.(identified in the cast of the pilot as "Dr. Tom Gray", also an intern—the two characters never appeared together).
- Randolph Mantooth as Firefighter Paramedic John Gage, L.A. County FD Squad 51
- Kevin Tighe as Firefighter Paramedic Roy DeSoto, L.A. County FD Squad 51
- Tim Donnelly as Firefighter Chester B. "Chet" Kelly, L.A. County FD Engine 51
- Marco Lopez as Firefighter Marco Lopez, L.A. County FD Engine 51
- Mike Stokeras Firefighter Specialist Mike Stoker, L.A. County FD Engine 51
- Dick Hammer as Captain Dick Hammer (First Season Only), L.A. County FD Engine 51
- John Smith as Captain Hammer in episode "Hang-Up" 1st season, as Captain in episode "Crash" 1st season, L.A. County FD Engine 51 (The back of this actor's turnout coat reads "Van Orden", but he is never called by name on the show; he is simply referred to as "Captain".)
- Battalion ChiefConrad
- Art Moore as Battalion Chief
- Michael Norell as Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley, L.A. County FD Engine 51
- James McEachin as Detective Lieutenant Ronald Crockett LAPD.
- Vince Howard as L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Vince Howard/Carson Police Officer/Sergeant Vince Howard.
- Battalion ChiefMcConnike (Season 6) Chief Battalion 14
- Sam Lanier (uncredited) as, and providing the voice of, the Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher.
The role of Dixie McCall was originally written as a love interest for Fuller's character, Dr. Kelly Brackett, though the on-screen romance between Brackett and McCall was gradually downplayed and eventually ignored over the course of the series; this was explained by Brackett's and McCall's romance not having worked out.
Development
The series was created by
At the time, the Los Angeles area was home to 2 of only 12 paramedic programs in the United States (as opposed to ambulances that provided basic first aid or only transport). In 1970, Governor
Cinader asked the writers to get all the rescues that were to be portrayed on the show from fire stations' logbooks.[9] Along the same line, the series was technically accurate as every script was fact-checked and approved by the series' technical consultants, Dr. Michael Criley (the man who had initially created the Los Angeles County Fire Department Paramedic program) and Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief James O. Page. There were always real paramedics serving as technical advisors on set every day for further technical advice.[9]
To train for their parts, the actors, Mantooth and Tighe sat in some paramedic classes (although they never actually took any written exams) and went on extensive ride-alongs with Los Angeles County Fire Department.[9] In an interview with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that the producer wanted them to train so that they would at least know the fundamentals and look like they knew what they were doing on camera. Mantooth mentioned that you needed to take the entire course and pass all the skills stations and final certification exam to be a paramedic, and went on to admit that "if anyone has a heart attack, I'll call 911 with the best of them."[10] Mantooth became an advocate for firefighters and paramedics after the series ended. He continued, as of late October 2014, to give speeches and make appearances all over the country at special events.[11]
Series format
While Webb's Dragnet and Adam-12 followed a pair of detectives and patrolmen respectively, Emergency! followed the firemen and paramedics of Station 51, and the emergency room staff of Rampart General Hospital.
Typical episodes begin with the firemen and paramedics at the station going through such routines as cooking, cleaning equipment, or sleeping until a call comes from the dispatcher describing the emergency and its location. The call prompts the crew to immediately stop their routine and respond with organized precision. The details of the call are noted by a fireman who then hands the information to the driver, usually DeSoto, accompanied by Gage in the passenger seat. The firemen and paramedics respond to the scene of the emergency, where the paramedics almost always contact Rampart General Hospital to report their patient assessment and receive medical direction and treatment authorization, which often includes IV drug therapy. Usually, either one of the doctors, or Nurse McCall, happen to be conveniently standing near the transmitter to receive the assessment. Many times the plot follows the accident victims and paramedics to Rampart.
Other plot lines end at the scene. When an event has ended, the crew return to Station 51 and resume their routines until another call is dispatched. Often, firemen DeSoto and Gage, who are best friends, engage in playful banter when an emergency call forces them to become serious-minded and immediately leave the station's living area to focus on the job at hand. Each episode typically climaxes with a major fire, disaster or rescue that often has multiple units engaged.
Because of the greater scope of its format, Emergency! was a full-hour series, whereas both
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 11 | January 22, 1972 | April 15, 1972 | |
2 | 21 | September 16, 1972 | April 7, 1973 | |
3 | 22 | September 12, 1973 | March 23, 1974 | |
4 | 22 | September 14, 1974 | March 1, 1975 | |
5 | 22 | September 13, 1975 | March 6, 1976 | |
6 | 24 | September 25, 1976 | May 28, 1977 | |
Television films | January 7, 1978 | July 3, 1979 |
Setting
Interior scenes were shot on Universal's sound stages.
Station 51
Station 51 was represented by Los Angeles Fire Station 127, located at 2049 East 223rd Street (between Wilmington Ave and Alameda St, with the 405 freeway visible in the background in wide shots) in Carson, California.
At the time the series aired, the Los Angeles County Fire Department had no Station 51. It was the number of a station that had previously existed at the intersection of Arlington and Atlantic Avenues on the outskirts of Lynwood and Compton, and closed in the late 1960s when the area was annexed by Lynwood. Since 1994, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has had a Station 51 in a different location. In an homage to the show, the fire station on the grounds of Universal Studios was renumbered from Station 60 to Station 51, more than 20 years after the debut of Emergency!. The vehicles based at Station 60 were accordingly renumbered. This station is therefore home to an actual Engine 51 and Squad 51, as well as Patrol 51 and Quint 51 (a ladder truck with ground ladders, fire pump, water tank and hose).[12]
Station 127 was chosen by series co-creator Robert A. Cinader, and the station was eventually named in his honor (a plaque honoring Robert A. Cinader is now mounted on the station next to the office front door). Station 106 in Rolling Hills Estates, California, a similar design to 127, was initially the choice, but faced north (versus south), which would make it difficult to light properly. At the time of filming Station 127 housed Engine 127 and Truck 127 (a ladder truck), whereas the fictional Station 51 had a small rescue truck instead of a ladder truck. As of 2018, Station 127 now instead houses Quint 127 and Foam 127.
When filming on location took place, Truck 127 was moved off-site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained a 1973 Ward LaFrance to use as Engine 51, both of Station 127's apparatus would be replaced by Universal's Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. Despite being "kicked out" of their own station for filming, Truck 127 still appeared in numerous episodes under its own callsign. The Carson location of Station 127 was directly referenced in one episode where a phone call was traced to a house "in Carson" that Engine 51 and Squad 51 eventually responded to. Interior scenes at Station 51 were filmed on sets at the studio, which accurately recreated the interior of Station 127.
"KMG365", which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC call sign used by Los Angeles County Fire Department assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127.
Rampart General Hospital
In the pilot episode, Rampart General Hospital is shown (in a letter to Dr. Brackett) to be located in Carson, California. At the time of filming, Rampart General Hospital was represented by Harbor General Hospital, located in Torrance, California at 1000 West Carson Street, the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Carson Street (33°49′49″N 118°17′30″W / 33.83028°N 118.29167°W). The pairing of Station 127 and Harbor General as "Station 51" and "Rampart" was accurate, since if a squad had actually been quartered at Station 127, it would likely have operated from Harbor General Hospital, since they are only 2.1 miles (3.4 km) apart. Not accurate was the response area of Station 51. Many examples exist. As seen in season 6 episode 5, where they responded to 4000 N. Riverton Ave. Universal City, Truck 127 appeared in one episode where a rescue event occurred at Rampart (Harbor General), as the hospital really is in Truck 127's "first-due" district.
In an episode near the end of the series, one character, an aged
In 1978, by the approval of the
In 2018, CrowdRx, Inc., launched their Mobile Emergency Room Trailer, naming it "Rampart" to honor Rampart General Hospital.[15]
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Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015
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Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015
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Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015
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Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; taken Sat. March 28, 2015
Los Angeles County Fire Dispatch
Footage of a dispatcher used during the show appears to have been filmed at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Keith E. Klinger dispatch center in East Los Angeles. The screen he looked at to see the street maps is a rear projection from a Kodak Carousel projector built into the console. The man was actual Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Sam Lanier, who also lent his voice as the dispatcher for the series' entire run.
The familiar tones that called Station 51 into service were initiated by dispatch using a
A long scene showing the sequence of microfiche reader address lookup to quik-call dispatch appears in the season six episode "Family Ties".
Props
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2017) |
The creators of Emergency! tried to accurately portray the Los Angeles County Fire Department by using
Squad 51
The vehicles which represented Squad 51 were constructed by Universal crews and were accurate replicas of the units built in-house on stock 1970 Dodge D300 truck chassis by Los Angeles County Fire Department prior to the filming of "Emergency". There were three identical truck chassis' used to represent the original TV Squad 51. The Los Angeles County Fire Department shops were unable to fulfill a request from Universal to build the first unit for the show within the short deadline the studio required, but did provide the blueprints so the studio could build its own unit on a 1972 Dodge D300 chassis.
The replica's accuracy is evident in that the white light atop the Federal Signal Twinsonic lightbar was part of the blueprint, but never installed by Los Angeles County Fire Department on its departmental units. This light was intended to be used by other personnel and particularly helicopters to differentiate paramedic squads from regular rescue squads and other units operating that vehicle type. Prior to season 3, the studio acquired a 1973 D300 cab and chassis. All of the external paraphernalia (rear compartment box, lightbar, searchlights, K12 box, etc.) were removed and remounted on the new squad chassis. This vehicle lasted for two seasons. In season 5 the third and final Dodge truck appeared. It was a 1974 model and this is the vehicle that presently resides in the Los Angeles County Fire Department museum. Once again, the rear compartment box and lightbar from the original Squad 51 were remounted. Also, the last two chassis came with a different engine grille, so the parts from the first truck were kept. The whereabouts of the first two stripped-down Dodge D300's remains a mystery. After the filming of the series, at the Fire Department's request, the studio donated the unit to Los Angeles County Fire Department in 1978, which pressed it into occasional service as a reserve unit before it was eventually retired from service.
In 1999, Los Angeles County Fire Department donated the Universal-built squad to the Los Angeles County Fire Museum, which restored it and put it on display.[16][17]
Engine 51
The original
Early in the third season, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 closed-cab Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador triple-combination pumper. Los Angeles County Fire Department was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance, through their local distributor, Albro Fire Equipment Co. of Los Angeles, donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the series as product placement. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of Los Angeles County Fire Department resources for filming.
Engine 127's 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the series, was later refitted with a closed cab. Eventually it was placed into reserve status when Station 127 received a new engine. In its reserve capacity, it was serving temporarily as Engine 95 when it was involved in a collision. Damaged beyond repair in the collision, it was salvaged for parts and sold as scrap.[18] The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association now owns and has restored the 1965 Crown which formerly served as Engine 60 at Universal Studios[19] and appeared most often as the Crown version of Engine 51.
The Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that represented Engine 51, owned by the studio outright, made its final Emergency! appearance in the movie The Steel Inferno, but it was marked as Engine 110. The Ward remained at Universal Studios as a prop following the conclusion of the series, and made brief appearances such as in the film The China Syndrome (1979) and a short educational film produced by the National Fire Protection Association in 1984.[20] Eventually, the Ward was pressed into active duty at Yosemite National Park, as MCA Recreation Services (Universal's then-owner/operator) was under contract to provide visitor services at the park at the time, and it remained with YNP Fire after MCARS's involvement at the Park ended.[21]
As the fire department for the concession area was private (not state or federal), the engine had the California personalized (vanity) license plate YCS E51. It served continuously as YNP Fire's Engine 7 until it was retired and replaced in July 2008. Per terms of a previous agreement between the Park and the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, the museum assumed ownership of the Ward and added it to the museum collection. In 2012, the museum finished a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show.[17][22][23]
Both of Station 51's vehicles have also been immortalized as Hot Wheels diecast vehicles Emergency Squad (1998) and Fire-Eater (1977) respectively.
Antique Dennis Fire Engine
An antique fire engine was the part of three episodes of the show. In the third season, episode 2, entitled, "The Old Engine", Gage and DeSoto see a derelict fire engine in a scrap yard during a fire. They purchase the vehicle for $80 according to the script and attempt to restore it. The script says it is a 1932 Dennis fire engine, but the vehicle is a Dennis Ace model, that was manufactured from 1934 to 1939 and sold to the British market including Australia, New Zealand, and India. Records indicate this model was not sold in the US.[24]
In Season 4, Episode 13, "The Parade", the two paramedics have finished their restoration of the Dennis Ace fire engine for the California Firefighters Parade, though having to replace a part that just busted. En route to the parade, wearing antique uniforms, the two spot an apartment fire and respond in the engine using its antiquated equipment to rescue two people trapped in the building before Los Angeles County Fire Department arrives. The Dennis Ace is heavily damaged when the structure collapses onto it. In Season 5, Episode 2, "The Old Engine Cram" the main characters are informed by Nurse McCall that a man is looking to buy that same model of fire engine.[25] Unfortunately, the engine is mistakenly referred to in the script as a 1923 Paige when it is actually a Dennis.[24]
Equipment
The orange radio Gage and DeSoto used was a model 3502 Biocom Biophone. It came in an orange fiberglass case and was fully portable. It could transmit EKG and voice simultaneously, could be charged in 15 minutes, and had one hour of talking time. The radio had eight duplex UHF channels and a total of 12 watts of transmitting power. There were two Biophones used on the series, one smaller than the other.[26]
In "Survival on Charter #220", Gage and DeSoto are briefly seen using a
The
Many items of the equipment were donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in May 2000.[28]
The protective clothing ("turn-out gear") that the firefighters wore, including the MSA Topgard helmets, as well as nearly all other equipment such as insignia, were standard fire department issue at the time.
The badges used in the series were authentic fire department badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safekeeping and then reissued the next day.
Legacy
Impact on emergency medical services
An analysis of Emergency!'s influence on the rapid expansion of paramedic services must begin with the acknowledgement of the familiar adage that "correlation does not equal causation." ... However, ample evidence supports a conclusion that the TV show was a primary factor that fueled the legal changes that allowed paramedic services to develop and expand.
Paul Bergman, University of Baltimore Law Review, 2007[2]
Prior to Emergency!, ambulances had been operating for decades in the United States. However, their crews rarely had training beyond basic first aid. Most states did not license them to perform more advanced medical treatment. The alternative was to staff ambulances with traditional healthcare professionals like doctors, which was expensive and posed recruitment challenges.[2]
Writing in the University of Baltimore Law Review in 2007, Paul Bergman argued that Emergency! encouraged the growth of EMS. The conclusion is shared by Yokey and Sutherland in the book Emergency! Behind the Scenes.[1] Bergman acknowledges that some of this trend had already been in motion, due to developments such as the 1966 report Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society and California's Wedworth-Townsend Act in 1970. In 1971, there were only 12 paramedic services operating in the United States. In the first three years that Emergency! aired, 46 out of 50 states enacted laws that allowed paramedics to practice. On a federal level, the 1974 Emergency Medical Services Systems Act was enacted to encourage the trend.[2] By 1982, half of the American population was within ten minutes' reach of a paramedic unit.[1][2]
The show was referenced during a debate in the Health Committee of the California State Assembly, during the passage of a bill to make the Wedworth-Townsend Act permanent.[29] A 1977 Newsweek article wrote that "[t]he television series Emergency! helped create a national demand for such services."[30] In a 1993 paper, Byron K. Toma argued that it "helped convince the public that they are entitled to the highest levels of emergency medical aid technologically available."[31]
In episode 17 of season 3, "Fools", singer Bobby Sherman plays an arrogant intern who shows disdain for John and Roy ... until he is sent out with them by Dr. Brackett to see exactly what they do. Sherman's character changes his mind quickly upon watching them perform a harrowing rescue. In real life, Sherman would leave show business and become an EMT. He worked with paramedics and taught CPR and first aid and subsequently joined the Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer Program. He served as a training officer for many years and would be promoted to the rank of Captain; Sherman credited his role on that episode of Emergency! as a guiding force in his choice of career change.
Spin-offs and crossovers
Emergency! was a third-generation spin-off, having been spawned from Jack Webb's
Characters from Emergency! and Adam-12 "crossed over" twice. The police officers appeared briefly in the
Emergency! spun off an animated version called Emergency +4 which ran on NBC Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1976, and featured four youngsters and their three pets who participated in rescue adventures with firefighter/paramedics DeSoto and Gage.
Mantooth's Gage and Tighe's DeSoto appeared in the tenth episode of Sierra, another Webb/Cinader production about a pair of National Park Service rangers, which appeared for only a partial season in 1974. In that episode, "The Urban Ranger", the two paramedics participate in mountain rescue training and get involved in many of the episode's subplots. Following recurring themes from Emergency!, Gage continues to fail in his attempts to get a date, while DeSoto briefly considers changing careers to become a park ranger.[32]
The "905-Wild" episode of Emergency!, broadcast during the closing of its Season 4 on Saturday March 1, 1975, was intended to be the pilot for a new series created and produced by Jack Webb. The series was to have been about the adventures of two Los Angeles County Department of Animal Control officers, and the staff of a county animal shelter. The episode featured Albert Popwell and Mark Harmon as the officers and David Huddleston and Gary Crosby in supporting roles. However, it failed to sell and the follow-up series was never produced.
Squad 51 briefly appeared in the CHiPs episode "Cry Wolf" (season 1, ep. 18), where it can be seen responding from the station to a false accident report. Further in the episode "MAIT Team" (season 2, ep. 15), Engine 51 and Squad 51 can be seen responding from the station to a traffic accident.[20] Again in the episode "Hot Wheels" (season 3, ep. 8) Squad 51 arrives on the scene of a traffic accident. It has a major role in the episode "E.M.T" when it responds to aid a young boy trapped in his clubhouse under a busy freeway, where California Highway Patrol officers Ponch and Jon retrieve equipment from the squad to aid in the rescue of the boy.
The episode "Cover Up" of Quincy, M.E. featured a paramedic team from Squad 44 contacting Rampart General Hospital while tending a heart attack patient, although the patient is directed to a closer hospital. When Dr. Quincy later visits Station 44 to question the paramedics concerning the patient's death, stock footage of the exterior of Station 51 is used. This episode was written by R.A. Cinader. Earlier, in the season 1 episode "Has Anyone Seen Quincy?" Harbor General Hospital is used as the filming location of the unnamed hospital seen throughout the episode. Rampart is again contacted in season 7's "The Golden Hour", but the patient is directed to a closer hospital, and Engine 51 responds to a hotel fire in the same season's episode "Smoke Screen".
Station 51 appears in the TV movie The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990), in a segment where all Los Angeles police and fire personnel are deployed to prepare for a massive Southern California earthquake. Stock footage from "Emergency!" is used.[33]
Rampart Hospital is briefly mentioned in the 911 episode "Hen Begins" (season 2, ep. 9), where Hen is introduced to fellow peers who are struggling to fit into their roles (Edit: The Rampart mentioned is not the fictional hospital, but the real life LAPD station.)
TV movies
From 1978 through 1979, the show returned as a series of "Movies of the Week". The TV movies premiered in this order:
The Steel Inferno: A fire breaks out in a skyscraper and the members of Squad 51 along with other Los Angeles County Fire Department members help rescue those who are trapped. Personnel from Rampart General Hospital set up a triage area at the scene to care for the injured awaiting to be transported to the hospital. A Coast Guard helicopter helps firefighters with rooftop evacuations. This television movie was similar to Irwin Allen's The Towering Inferno (1974).
Survival on Charter #220: While Squad 51 is on a call, two planes collide with one crash landing in a Los Angeles subdivision, trapping Gage and DeSoto. A resident of the subdivision which was the site of the crash was the girlfriend of one of Squad 51's other paramedics from another shift. The on and off-duty firefighters make multiple rescues and the injured girl Squad 51 was originally dispatched to help turns out to be all right. During the rescue, however, an engine from one of the planes lands on the squad, destroying it.
Most Deadly Passage: The paramedics from Squad 51 travel to Seattle to watch how their paramedics treat patients and respond to calls for help. The most notable incident in the movie is the ferry that catches fire in the middle of a trip.
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing?: Gage and DeSoto travel to San Francisco to observe some female paramedics work. A worker is rescued from the Golden Gate Bridge, an ambulance gets into an accident that ends up killing the patient being transported to the hospital, an epileptic in a coffee shop is treated along with someone having a heart attack at a dance bar. A pier at the Embarcadero catches on fire.
Greatest Rescues of "Emergency!": Gage and DeSoto are both promoted to the rank of captain, at which rank they were no longer permitted to hold paramedic certification. They think back to their time on Squad 51 and some of the rescues they carried out. Robert A. Cinader wrote and directed the framing story, which included clips from other such installments as the pilot, on whose writing Harold Jack Bloom had collaborated with Cinader. This film marked the "official" ending of the series.
The Convention: John and Roy are back in San Francisco for a paramedic convention and they ride along with the San Francisco Fire Department's paramedics.[34]
The TV movies were shown in syndication as two-part episodes starting in the 1980s. They also aired on TV Land in 2001, on MeTV in June 2015, and on Cozi TV in late 2019.
Other media
The book Emergency!: Behind the Scenes by Richard Yokely and Rozane Sutherland was published in 2008.[1]
Charlton Comics out of Derby, Connecticut, published several issues of an Emergency! comic book in the mid-1970s, geared towards youth readers. One of the issues contains some of the earliest published work of John Byrne.[35] Charlton also published four issues of an illustrated black-and-white magazine geared more towards adult readers featuring art by Neal Adams and others, these projects were overseen by publisher Steve Kahn, in parallel with similar books for The Six Million Dollar Man and Space: 1999.[36]
Milton Bradley released an Emergency! board game in 1973.[37]
Syndication
The series was first
Emergency! seasons 1 – 6 were available on
Home media
On July 12, 2016, Universal released Emergency! – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[40] The 32-disc set contains all 122 episodes of the series as well as the 6 post-series tele-films.
In 2017–2018, Universal re-released the first two seasons on DVD in new single sided disc collections.
Note: Seasons 1 & 2 in the complete series set were released on single sided discs; they were originally released on double sided discs in the individual season sets.
Name | Ep# | Region 1 |
---|---|---|
Season One | 12 | August 23, 2005 May 9, 2017 (re-release) |
Season Two | 21 | February 7, 2006 March 27, 2018 (re-release) |
Season Three | 22 | February 13, 2007 |
Season Four | 22 | January 29, 2008 |
Season Five | 24 | January 20, 2009 |
Season Six | 24 | April 13, 2010 |
The Final Rescues | 6 | March 29, 2011 |
The Complete Series | 135 | July 12, 2016 |
Los Angeles County Fire Museum
The Los Angeles County Fire Museum currently houses the Universal-built Squad 51, both Engines 51 (the renumbered Crown Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 60 and the Ward-LaFrance-donated Engine 51), and various equipment used on the show. Such equipment includes: the orange "BioPhone", black "drug box" (tackle box), defibrillator, OB/GYN, radios, turnout coats, gear, various cast photographs, and other paraphernalia used on the show.
The museum, which relocated to 16400 Bellflower Blvd, Bellflower, California, USA (33.8842615N, 118.1259962W) in July, 2018, allows fans to photograph and (for special events) touch / handle the various equipment. Some of the equipment is signed by various actors from the show.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0763748968.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bergman, Paul (Spring 2007). "EMERGENCY!: Send a TV Show to Rescue Paramedic Services!". University of Baltimore Law Review. 36 (3).
- ^ a b Reiner, Jonathan (May 15, 2000). "Emergency! at the Smithsonian". TVGuide.com. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
- ^ a b Ames, Denise (December 12, 2013). "One-on-One with Randolph Mantooth". The Tolucan Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^ Inman, Julia, TV Scene, The Indianapolis Star, May 2, 1973, page 32
- ^ "Sam Lanier." Sam Lanier. Emergency Fans, 2004. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
- ^ "Robert A. Cinader". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
- ^ "Virtual Museum EMS History." 1969-Los Angeles Area Paramedic Programs. Np, 31 July 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Q & A with Randolph Mantooth". route51.com. February 1, 2014. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ "Randolph Mantooth" (Interview). Interviewed by Tom Blixa. Columbus, Ohio: WTVN. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
- ^ "EMS Isn't a Right ... It's a Privilege." Randolph Mantooth. Nickel One Productions, 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
- ^ Los Angeles County Fire Station 51 Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-7637-4896-8, retrieved October 31, 2013
- ^ "HUMC – Celebrating 50 Years of Caring". Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ "CrowdRx – Rampart Mobile Emergency Room". Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ "County Of Los Angeles Fire Museum's Squad 51". Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ a b [1] Visit the County Of Los Angeles Fire Museum
- ^ "Emergency! TV Show Equipment And Filming Locations". Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ "County Of Los Angeles Fire Museum's Engine 51Crown". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780763748968. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ "Fire Engines Page 1". Archived from the original on October 28, 2009. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ "Engine 51 Restoration". LA County Fire Museum, Inc. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
- ^ "County Of Los Angeles Fire Museum's Engine 51 Ward LaFrance". Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7637-4896-8
- ^ ""Emergency!" The Old Engine Cram (TV Episode 1975)". IMDb. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7637-4896-8. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ "Passport 2" (PDF). proactmedical.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2008.
- ^ Clafma.org Archived February 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Interim Hearing on Emergency Medical Services, 1972 Leg., 1972 Reg. Sess. 23 (Cal. 1972).
- ^ Peter Bonventre et al., "It's an Emergency", Newsweek, Nov. 21, 1977, p. 105.
- ^ Toma, Byron (1993). "The Decline of Emergency Medical Services Coordination in California: Why Cities Are at War With Counties Over Illusory Ambulance Monopolies". Southwestern University Law Review.
- ^ "Sierra X-Over", Emergencyfans.com. Accessed August 24, 2007.
- ^ Gordon Burnett (June 20, 2013). "The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990)". Archived from the original on November 18, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Emergency: The Final Rescues (The Steel Inferno, Survival on Charter #220, Greatest Rescues of Emergency!, More)." DVD Talk. DVD Talk, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
- ^ "Emergency! – June 1976 – December 1976". Grand Comics Database Project. comics.org. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
- ^ "Emergency! – July 1976 – January 1977". Grand Comics Database Project. comics.org. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
- ^ The Emergency! Game
- ^ "Universal Studios Home Entertainment Web Store". Emergency: The Complete Series. Universal Studios Home Entertainment. April 13, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
- ^ "Emergency! DVD news: Announcement for Emergency – The Final Rescues". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ Watch Out, Guys ... Universal is Creating a Complete 'Emergency!' **UPDATED** Archived 2016-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Emergency! at IMDb
- Emergency! at NBC
- Emergency! Episode Guide at TV Gems
- Emergency! fansite at nexxie.0catch.com