I.1 EMERGENCY! history
An excellent source on the history of the show is "The EMERGENCY!
Companion" by Jim Page, a publication from JEMS Communications.
Jim Page was a Battalion Chief with the Los Angeles County Fire
Department and was a technical consultant and a writer for the
first years of the "EMERGENCY!" series.
"The EMERGENCY! Companion" explains how EMERGENCY! came into
being, how the premiere episode was created, gives you inside
information on the making of six selected episodes, and other
information on the making of the show.
See Appendix D for additional information on this fine booklet.
I.2 The series' original run
EMERGENCY!, a drama series, aired on NBC on Saturday evenings
from 8:00 to 9:00pm EST from January 22, 1972 to July of 1972,
and then from September of 1972 until September 3, 1977.
EMERGENCY! followed the efforts of Squad 51 of the Los Angeles
COUNTY Fire Department's Paramedic Rescue Service. Regular cast
included the two paramedics of Squad 51, the four members from
Engine 51, and the staff of Rampart Hospital. Each episode
featured several incidents, some humorous and some serious and
dramatic.
I.3 After the original run
After the series end, several two-hour features were aired during
the following season. Most of these features took place in San
Francisco.
From: ctemt@aol.com
After reading the current threads about the EMERGENCY! TV show I
have a question? Does anyone know why the show changed its name
from EMERGENCY to EMERGENCY ONE during the middle of it's run?
From: NKHP80A@prodigy.com
To the best of my personal recollection, the series was named
"Emergency" throughout its entire NBC network run. As I recall,
once the series entered syndication, it often appeared as
"Emergency One".
From: brady@KCMETRO.CC.MO.US
EMERGENCY ONE! was the syndicated re-run version of EMERGENCY!.
Exactly why a different name was used is unclear. (Unless it had
to do with network proprietary rights to the name?? -- Just a guess!)
I.4 Emergency + 4
From: ctemt@aol.com
Reaching back into my childhood memory I do remember that they
did make a cartoon version of Emergency! that was shown on
Saturday mornings as part of the Sat. AM line up. I think it was
on ABC but I'm not sure. I also don't remember it being on for
very long.
From: aq957@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
The cartoon was called, "Emergency Plus Four", the "four" being
two kids and a monkey and a dog or something who were, of course,
incredibly talented. Johnny and Roy (the animated ones, that is)
basically just had cameo appearances in each episode, while the
"Four" did all the heroics.
From: 102375.1271@CompuServe.COM
Yes, there was an Emergency! cartoon. It was on Saturday
mornings. It was called "Emergency! Plus 4!" In it, Johnny and
Roy teamed up with a group of volunteer high school kids to do
spectacular rescues. As I recall, the kids had a better rescue
squad than most real agencies today have.
