Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Emergency was a revolutionary TV show. It portrayed the work of firefighters, paramedics, and doctors pretty much the way it happens in real life. Prior to Emergency medical based shows tended to lean towards soap opera style dramatics to create compelling stories. With Emergency the writers used the real jargon spoken by these professionals ("51 start an IV, D5W TKO," "We're transmitting EKG," "We're sending you a strip, vitals to follow. Pulse is 160, the victim is in extreme pain, Rampart. V-fib!"), and it showed how lives were really saved.
The danger of firefighters' work was really shown for the first time in Emergency, and while the show did tend to glamorize firefighters to a small degree it also showed the dedication that they have to their jobs. Decades before the movie Backdraft you saw firefighters risking their lives on nearly a daily basis. Realism was goal one for the producers, and they achieved that goal.
Season 1 has some great episodes, but it also lacks the cast chemistry that came a year or two later with the addition of Michael Norell as Captain Stanley. The cast - filled with great personalities like Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, Robert Fuller, Bobby Troup, Ron Pinkard, and Julie London - spent the first season finding their footing with their characters. By season 2 most of them had their characters pegged and developed great interplay with each other.
The other firefighters on the show, played by Tim Donnelly, Marco Lopez, and Mike Stoker also deserve mention because although some of them were given very little to stretch them as actors they did have the perfect personalities to play those characters.
Jack Webb co-created Emergency, and it was his desire to make the show in as close to a "documentary" style as possible. The realism of Emergency ultimately paved the way for later medical shows such as ER.
This is definitely a show that should have its entire run on DVD. Hopefully this first season sells well enought to see the rest of the show released on DVD. To quote Captain Stanley, "Station 51, KMG 365."
Click Here to see more reviews about: Emergency: Season One (1972)
EMERGENCY:SEASON ONE - DVD Movie
Click here for more information about Emergency: Season One (1972)
