SYNOPSIS

Done in the semi-documentary style for which Jack Webb had become famous with Dragnet, Emergency followed the efforts of Squad 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Paramedical Rescue Service. Paramedics DeSoto and Gage were usually at the center of the action, while the emergency staff of Rampart Hospital provided the backup assistance. Each telecast depicted several interwoven incidents, some humorous, some touching, others tragic. A typical night's work might have the paramedics called on to help an overweight woman who was having trouble breathing because her girdle was too tight, or aiding a maintenance worker who had broken his back in a 100-foot-fall from a smokestack he was painting. Another night they might be saving children trapped in an abandoned building when a wrecking crew began demolishing the place, or rescuing a woman parachutist who had gotten caught in a tree. One of the specialties of the paramedics, in fact, seemed to be saving "danglers" - people trapped in precarious positions because of faulty rigging, collapsing scaffolding, or the like.

Former band leader Bobby Troup, who played neurosurgeon Joe Early, was in real life married to Julie London, who played Rampart's head nurse. (She had previously been married to producer Jack Webb). Squad 51's mascot was a dog named Boots, succeeded by Henry (named after the squad's captain) in 1976.

Although Emergency ended its run as a series in 1977, special two-hour movie versions were periodically aired during the following season.

An animated Saturday morning spin-off of the series, titled Emergency + 4, aired on NBC from September 1973 to September 1976.