Before ER there was EMERGENCY.
Before George Clooney and Goren Visnjic there was Robert Fuller and Randolph Mantooth.
Before Maura Tierney there was the magnificent Julie London.
Before County General there was Rampard Emergency Hospital.
From 1972 (a remarkable year for many things) to 1977, NBC aired it's first medical/emergency drama--a show called *Emergency*.
Julian was with me a few weeks ago when I went in Blockbuster to pick up Season Two of The West Wing. He spotted a DVD case with a fire engine on it and declared that he *needed* to see this DVD. It was EMERGENCY. It looked old--I didn't think it would be very exciting...but knowing how he is, I agreed to get it. It was Season One, including the pilot.
Don't watch this if you are looking for modern cinematic smoothness. This show is ripe with the cheesiness that we associate with 1970's television but it is filled to the brim with drama. There is no swearing. There are no adult scenes. They don't actually show any "procedures"...but there's plenty of implications. There is heavy use of dramatic music. There's some conflict but it's handled well, without nastiness. It's clear who the bad guy is and most importantly, the good guys--the doctors and the paramedics always win the day.
It's slightly educational in spots. It's filled with interesting story lines, great rescues and plenty of bravery. It also has lots of beautiful California scenery.
In short, it's great tv for a 12-year old fire fighter enthusiast, such as the dude who resides at my address.
So we watched the DVD about 9 dozen times and he wasn't too happy to return it. I looked on ebay and found it for about $30 a season. Joal said he would keep an eye out for it in his used CD store shopping.
And then, I discovered www.hulu.com!! And one of the many cool things offered by HULU is a bunch of episodes of EMERGENCY!
What a goldmine!
Simple tv. I like it.
Happy Innauguration Day.
2 comments:
I LOVED Emergency....had a major crust on Randolph Mantooth....Johnny Gage!
Mother of eight (seven at home-7yob to 22yog) here. We love Emergency and Adam 12 but the children (and I) are still on Dragnet shows-TV and radio. We don't flip the TV on much but the values presented in these shows are those we hope our children, esp. our boys, will keep the rest of their lives.
As they research EVERYTHING they have an interest in, they reported to me that they're all dramas of actual cases (see www.badge714.com), that Jack Webb was the creator of all three and they'd found a treasury of them on... HULU! Needless to say, we HAD to buy the movie, 'Dragnet' with Ben Alexander (played Frank Smith in the radio and TV shows).
Now it's a Friday lunchtime ritual to watch an episode on our new digital-box TV(now that we had to switch from analog) or, if we've seen that episode before, one on the laptop on HULU.
Also, I got your blog from Daniel Gleaton's mom since she told us last August of Andy's injury.
God's blessings to your family and Andy's,
Shawn
www.thefullquiver.com
Post a Comment