Everything about Rescue 911 totally explained
Rescue 911 was an informational
reality-based
television series, hosted by
William Shatner. Originally intended to be only a set of three TV specials,
Rescue 911 was picked up by
CBS for the 1989 Fall season after two specials aired on
April 18 and
May 9,
1989.
Rescue 911 began airing as a regular series on
September 5,
1989 and ran for 7 seasons, with the last new episode airing on
August 27,
1996. The last episode to air on CBS (a repeat) aired on
September 3,
1996. Throughout its duration, most episodes aired on
Tuesday, though occasionally, the show aired on other days of the week, either as an additional episode shown during that week or a temporary rearrangement to make room for another program.
Though never intended as a teaching tool, various viewers used the knowledge they obtained watching
Rescue 911. Two specials titled "
100 Lives Saved" and "
200 Lives Saved" were dedicated to these viewers who had written to CBS with their stories on how the knowledge they obtained watching
Rescue 911 allowed them to save the life of someone else. CBS confirmed on a
carbon monoxide poisoning segment that aired early in
1995 that at least three hundred lives had been saved, though the actual number is said to be much higher.
At its height, the show was adapted in 45 countries (with their own 911 equivalent showcased). Although reruns have previously been shown on
cable stations such as
The Family Channel and The
Odyssey Network, as of
August 1,
2005,
Discovery Health Channel stopped airing reruns, meaning the show is currently not airing on any U.S. network. Re-runs used to air on U.K. channel
LIVING but are currently being shown on another channel
Zone Reality.
Stories Featured on Rescue 911
Situations
Crimes,
automobile accidents,
medical emergencies,
fires,
choking/
asphyxiations, and miscellaneous
injuries were the most common situations presented on the show. Other situations commonly presented on
Rescue 911 included
near-drownings, people getting themselves or their body parts stuck in tight places,
baby deliveries,
animal rescues,
search and rescue situations,
swiftwater rescues, rescues of people stranded in high places such as cliffs or trees, and
aircraft-related emergencies. The show occasionally presented stories involving
gas leaks,
electrocutions,
suicide attempts,
scuba diving accidents,
drug overdoses,
train-related accidents, and
natural disasters.
Although
Rescue 911 mostly featured serious emergencies, the show occasionally featured humorous stories of non life-threatening situations and false alarms. Examples of such stories include a burglar who got stuck upside-down when he tried to enter a house through the chimney, a young man who got a plaster mask stuck on his face, a woman who called 911 when she mistook her parents' new mannequin for an intruder, a young boy who's tongue froze to the inside of his freezer while attempting to reach a popsicle, and a dog that stepped on the 9-1-1 speed-dial button after getting tangled in the phone cord.
In the majority of stories featured, the ending was happy with all lives being saved. There were some exceptions, however, in which one or more victims died. These included:
Presentation
Stories were usually presented in the form of re-enactments. Many stories included the actual recorded 911 call, as well as brief clips of people who had a part in the story recalling the situation. Occasionally, recorded video footage of all or part of the event itself, the rescue efforts or the aftermath (usually amateur video or television news coverage) would be included in the segments. Many of the re-enactments required complex presentation, such as the recreation of
house fires,
automobile accidents,
police chases, explosions,
pregnant women in labor, and even
natural disasters.
Some stories took place in the form of a
documentary. In these stories,
Rescue 911 camera crews would ride with paramedics or police, or wait in hospitals and film whatever happened to unfold. These stories sometimes involved more than one event in a single segment at the same medical facility.
High Profile Incidents
A few segments featured on
Rescue 911 gained (or had previously gained) national news coverage. These incidents included the
New Years Eve 1986 fire at Puerto Rico's DuPont Plaza Hotel, the
1987 Amtrak train wreck in Maryland, two segments on
Hurricane Hugo, the
June 1990 Ohio tornado, the
Stuart murder case, the
Salt Lake City Public Library hostage incident, and the
Oklahoma City bombing.
Show Formats
Original Format
When it originally aired on CBS,
Rescue 911 episodes normally ran 60 minutes and typically featured four stories, with episodes from earlier seasons occasionally featuring three or five stories. Because
Rescue 911 was paired with
The CBS Tuesday Movie for most of its run, episodes with irregular running times were occasionally created to accommodate movies that didn't fit the regular two-hour time slot. Most of these episodes ran 30 minutes and containted two stories. Other such episodes included a 90-minute episode, a 50-minute episode, a 45-minute episode, and a 15-minute episode containing only one story.
The Family Channel aired re-runs of
Rescue 911 in the 60-minute format until 1998, although episodes were edited for running time, and censored for profanity and religious references. From seasons 1-5, an opening disclaimer was shown in the original introduction before the start of the show, although the credits varied from season to season. Shatner's voice was heard by saying:
"This program contains true stories of rescues. All of the 9-1-1 calls you'll hear are real. Whenever possible, the actual people involved have helped us reconstruct the events as they happened."
From seasons 6-7, a modified version of the introduction was used. Instead of showing the "This program contains true stories of rescues..." disclaimer, the show started by previewing three of the segments from the episode, and then faded into a shortened version of the original opening. Some re-runs from earlier seasons that aired after the beginning of the sixth season had their old introductions replaced by the new version of the introduction.
Syndicated Format
In 1994, a re-formatted version of
Rescue 911 was sold into off-network
syndication. This version of the show ran 30 minutes and typically included two stories, although a few episodes contained one long-running story. Some syndicated episodes featured stories that began on one episode and concluded on the next episode, which was never done in the show's original format. These syndicated episodes contained no new material. They consisted of two stories taken from two different original 60 minute episodes. Stories featured on syndicated episodes were often edited for running time, omitting short scenes that were shown in the original broadcast. Three-hundred of these syndicated episodes were made, and featured segments from first season through the sixth season. This version of
Rescue 911 has been featured on numerous local channels, as well national channels such as
The Hallmark Channel and The
Discovery Health Channel. This is the version of
Rescue 911 currently seen on the U.K. channel
Zone Reality.
Episodes
Pinball
In May 1994, Premier Technologies, trade-name Gottlieb, released a
Rescue 911 pinball machine. It featured a helicopter that magnetically captured the ball as well as a red revolving light on the backbox.
(External Link
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Further Information
Get more info on 'Rescue 911'.
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