The Show That Started It All

On January 15, 1972, NBC premiered the medical drama Emergency! as a midseason replacement. For the next six years, the weekly adventures of the crew of Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51, primarily firefighters John Gage (played by Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe), brought EMS and paramedicine into the homes of millions of Americans and shone a spotlight on a field many didn’t know about. That it premiered before many current EMS providers were even born doesn’t diminish the impact that the show had, and continues to have, on EMS.

Would paramedicine have existed without Johnny and Roy? Well, probably. Paramedic programs were already developed in Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami, among other communities. But without Emergency!, EMS would not be what it is today. You could argue that no television show or movie has ever had as great an impact on the field it portrayed.

In the Beginning

Emergency! started as an idea developed by Jack Webb (best known as Detective Joe Friday from Dragnet) and producer Robert Cinader, who were also involved in the production of such shows as Dragnet and Adam-12. Webb and Cinader wanted to create a medical drama different from any other that had been brought to television, taking viewers not only into the hospital environment, but also out into the field of a profession in its infancy.

In addition to Gage and DeSoto, the show featured the other crew members of Station 51: Capt. Dick Hammer (his real name; he was an actual L.A. County fire captain at the time), Capt. Hank Stanley (Michael Norell) and firefighters Chet Kelly (Tim Donnelly), Marco Lopez (also his real name) and Mike Stoker (ditto, and who was also an L.A. County firefighter). The show also featured the doctors and nurses of Rampart General Hospital, Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller), Dr. Joe Early (Bobby Troup), Dr. Mike Morton (Ron Pinkard) and nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London).

The weekly episodes took people into a world where all types of emergencies took place, in many different environments. Many were true stories of actual L.A. County Fire Department events, courtesy of industry legend James O. Page, who served as technical advisor and wrote several episodes. Crews could be fighting a fire at a chemical factory, then respond to a man encased in papier-maché. They would rappel from helicopters, dive into swimming pools and handle anything else thrown their way. The show also depicted the camaraderie of the station crews, and how those crews interacted during shifts.

Educating the Public

Over the course of the series, it introduced new lifesaving techniques (first aid, CPR, etc.) to the public. Those techniques actually helped people in real-life situations—so much so that producers added a disclaimer to each episode stating that lifesaving techniques should only be done by trained professionals.

As the show became more popular, it was broadly marketed, and specifically toward children. Many EMS providers will tell you they owned Emergency!-related items, from toy helmets and SCBAs to board games and puzzles, vehicles and action figures, and comic books and lunch boxes. Even a cartoon series based on the show, Emergency +4, ran on NBC from 1973–76. It featured the voices of Mantooth and Tighe.

While Emergency! was ultimately cancelled in 1978, the show continued in “movie of the week” formats throughout 1978 and ’79. After its run ended, it appeared for years in syndication and on networks like TV Land. Since the cancellation of Emergency!, several TV programs related to EMS and the fire service have been developed, but none have had nearly the popularity or longevity.

Over the years Emergency! has also been available in VHS format, and the entire series is now available on DVD, giving a whole new audience an opportunity to experience the show. Additionally, a book, Emergency! Behind the Scene, containing virtually everything you would want to know about the show, has been published by Jones and Bartlett.