Emergency! - Season Four

I love the show it is a good family show

Rush to the scene of danger with all 22 episodes of this 1974-75 Season of EMERGENCY in a collectible 5-disc set. This gripping series that ran on NBC from 1972-77 follows L.A. County Fire Dept. paramedics Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) and John Gage (Randy Mantooth), Nurse Dixie McCall (Julia London), Dr. Kelly Brackett(Bob Fuller), and Dr. Joe Early(Bobby Troup)along with the help of the heroic staff of Rampart General Hospital in Los Angeles as they make life-and-death decisions and respond to LA's most dire emergency calls. The TV show that broke new ground for all action series to come is more enthralling than ever on DVD!You have to consider EMERGENCY a great show if it can convincingly combine both medical drama and nail-biting action rescues. The writers, creators, special effects artists and stuntmen on this show went to great ends to think up convincing accidents and then depict them for entertainment purposes. Throw in 2 likeable guys in the form of Kevin Tighe and Randy Mantooth along with a station of cut-ups and you have a hit series on your hands.A lot of tongue in cheek humor made this series for me as Gage was always trying to get rich quick or fellow fireman Chet Kelly(Tim Donnelly) letting loose with the practical jokes, but yet it was all played straight to save others as we the viewers learned at least superficially the ins and outs of the paramedic business. Kudos to a well remembered and well liked show.I used to watch EMERGENCY in reruns on ME-TV and TV Land along with ADAM-12 and DRAGNET, which are now on COZI-TV.By the way, Warner Bros. will finally be releasing CHiPs-Season 3 out on DVD on March 3, 2015.

I am a huge fan of Emergency and would, to this day, drop everything for a date with Randolph Mantooth! I have all four seasons so far. Yes, I do wish they would add extras (like the making of...I seem to remember reading that KT and RM did their own stunts and had to fight the studio to get paid extra for it? Extra being about $1500 a week.). And I can't wait for them to start releasing the Emergency movies.My only complaint with Season 4 is the sound quality. I did not notice this problem in the earlier seasons but with Season 4 the sound seems all over the place. I watched about 6 shows (from several of the DVDs) with the volume high enough that I could hear the dialogue but when the sirens go off (either as they head to a call or from the call to the hospital), the siren sound is so bad (both in decibels and quality) that I have to turn down the volume about 8 or 10 notches. Plus there are a few other places in the DVD where the normal volume is too low and I have to turn it up 8 or 10 notches to hear the dialogue. If overall, the sound was low requiring you to turn up the volume, that is one thing. But to have the sound differ so much means I have to keep the volume remote in my hand at all times else my neighbors might think there are real fire trucks and such nearby!It would be nice if the studios spent a little more time on these DVDs rather than just transfering them as is.

Many reviewers are really upset about the quality of these videos. I work in TV and am as much of a stickler as anyone about quality, but I also know how masters can get misplaced or destroyed requiring you to fall back on a syndicated version. So I don't get upset about the quality, I mean, come on, this is a TV series from thirty years ago during a time when long-term consideration of these programs was not really considered. Do you think that thirty years ago the film vault techs thought that people would be buying high-quality sets of the current TV shows at all? I'm sure that the highest preservation went to feature films. Until recently, TV shows have been kind of considered "throw-away" projects, certainly not something that would end up in libraries of the consumer. So I give them a pass and will continue to gobble up the rest of the series as they release it.I grew up on a single episode of Emergency! - well, actually the movie "The Greatest Rescues of Emergency!" - taped by my mom where she took out the commercials and anything that wasn't a fire truck driving or a rescue happening. I caught it some on TV Land but the effort involved in taping the shows became overwhelming. About a year ago I finally broke down and bought the first DVD - and that was all it took. I didn't realize what a great show this really was. I find it fascinating from a historical standpoint, but also am impressed at how well-done it is. It's also very fun to watch from the low-budget first season to the fourth season where it is clear that they had a much larger budget to work with.

I'm probably a little biased about the show, since it was my favorite as a child growing in the 70s, but still, I think it holds up quite well. The acting and writing are specially loose and realistic, which is odd considering the show was from Jack Webb, perhaps the stiffest actor ever. You really believe that Johnny, Roy, Chet, Marco and the Captain are real fire fighters. And of course, the other guy, Mike Stoker actually was one. But the chemistry is great.I think this season focused a lot more on the paramedics as opposed to the hospital part of the show, but honestly, they are more entertaining anyway. Julie London is also starting to show her age, or at least hints of it. But she still looks fabulous for 50 years old.That said, the DVDs are not so hot. Universal is well, almost universally awful when it comes to their old TV shows. It's almost a miracle if you get them all, but there's always something to complain about. This time around it's the video and sound quality.The video looks like they hooked up a film projector and simply recorded it with a camcorder, much like pirated movies on the internet. The sound suffers from being both too loud (the sirens) and too soft (the dialogue), requiring constant fiddling with the remote on the volume.But, if you like the show, you don't have much choice. Because if you don't buy it, Universal won't put out any more seasons.

I'm staying up til the early hours watching these episodes of Emergency. I keep thinking I'll just watch one more!! I'm enjoying it immensely.

Exalant

Thank you all qas great arrived when said

I was looking forward to getting Season 4 of Emergency! after enjoying the previous 3 seasons. What a shame, then, to see and hear that the episodes on this DVD set are severely compromised due to an extremely poor job by Universal in transferring the prints to DVD. It appears they used multi-generational copies that had previously seen a lot of use. The sound is muddy, almost inaudible at times. Dialogue is lost, while sirens blast through the speakers. The theme sounds like it's being played at the bottom of a swimming pool. The picture quality is equally disappointing -- fuzzy and jittery at times, with scratches and obvious defects. This is in sharp contrast to earlier season releases -- once watched, I doubt I will go back to these in the future. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is the single WORST quality series set I have in my collection -- so bad that I am still considering whether to return it to Amazon for a refund. Universal's shabby treatment of its back catalog is shameful.

I truly loved watching Emergency! All over again! What fond memories it brought back! Thank You! I highly recommend! What a great tv series it was!