Rescue 911

Rescue 911
Rescue 911 logo
Genre	Docudrama
Written by	Paula Deats Nancy Platt Jacoby Aaron Kass Jim Milio Jean O'Neill
Directed by	Sheri Goldstein Mary Hardwick Nancy Platt Jacoby Jim Milio Chris Pechin Ronnie Weinstock Segment Directors Ron Brody Mark Cole Michael Collins Allison Grodner Robin Groth Dan Jackson Jim Milio Steve Muscarella Chris Pechin
Presented by	William Shatner
Theme music composer	Scott Roewe
Composer(s)	Richard Stone (1989-92) Stu Goldberg (1992-96)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	(List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Arnold Shapiro Jean O'Neill (1993-96)
Producer(s)	Nancy Platt Jacoby (1989-91) Jim Milio (1991-96)
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	April 18, 1989 – August 27, 1996

Rescue 911 is 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, 1989 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 re-runs 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 re-runs, 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

Situations

Crimes, automobile accidents, medical emergencies, fires, choking/asphyxiations, miscellaneous injuries, and amazing stories of survival 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 boy who gets stuck in a laundry chute while playing hide and seek, a young man who got a plaster mask stuck on his face, a woman who got a plaster mold stuck to her torso, a woman who called 911 when she mistook her parents' new mannequin for an intruder, a young boy whose tongue froze to the inside of his freezer while attempting to reach a popsicle, a toddler who got her foot stuck in the toilet drain, a dog that stepped on the 9-1-1 speed dial button after getting tangled in the phone cord (although the dog was in danger of being strangled), a raccoon whose head was stuck in the hole of a tree, and a woman who got stuck in her bathroom when the lock on her door failed.

Deaths

In the majority of stories featured, the ending was all lives being saved. There were some exceptions, however, in which one or more victims died, although such occurrences became exceedingly rare later in the show's run. These occasions included:

• Pilot episode (also Season 1, episode 17: Ten children do not survive on a church bus that gets swept into floodwater
• Season 1, episode 6: A restaurant employee is murdered
• Season 1, episode 9: Former NFL player Jerry Anderson drowns saving a boy from a river
• Season 1, episode 13: In the Dupont Plaza Hotel arson, while many are rescued, 98 people die
• Season 1, episode 16: Sixteen people die in the Chase, Maryland rail wreck
• Season 1, episode 19: A woman is killed when the car she is riding in is hit by a runaway freight train car; her husband survives
• Season 1, episode 20: Charles Stuart murders his pregnant wife; later his child dies, and then commits suicide.
• Season 2, episode 2: Two out of three scuba divers are successfully rescued; one dies
• Season 2, episode 5: One man dies in a hotel fire later found to be arson
• Season 2, episode 8: Slick Johnson is killed in a crash during an auto race; a paramedic injured aiding another driver survives.
• Season 2, episode 19: A man is murdered at a bar; officers chasing the suspects are threatened by gunfire, but survive and are later able to apprehend the suspects
• Season 2, episode 27: The pilot of an aircraft dies while flying the plane; his wife brings the plane to a safe landing, surviving and preventing the plane from causing danger to others
• Season 2, episode 29: Fleeing bank robbers being chased by police strike and kill a detective
• Season 3, episode 13: A prowler is shot dead after seriously injuring a Police Officer
• Season 5, episode 20: A teenage boy dies from huffing butane
• Season 6, episode 14: A drunk driver kills a man and seriously injures a woman.

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. Examples of such type episodes include the Charles Stuart murder case, which happened when Rescue 911 was filming in Boston.

High-profile incidents

A few segments featured on Rescue 911 gained (or had previously gained) national news coverage. These incidents included the New Year's 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, although some episodes featured three or five stories. Episodes with three stories were common during the second and third seasons, but became less common during the later seasons. 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 did not 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 will hear are real. Whenever possible, the actual people involved have helped us reconstruct the events as they happened."

In a few of the earlier episodes, the last sentence of the disclaimer instead said:

"Unless indicated, the actual people involved have helped 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

International versions

Rescue 111

In New Zealand TV2 began screening the first season of Rescue 911 in 1991 and subsequent seasons following this. At the start of each episode the network would display a reminder to viewers that the emergency number in New Zealand is 111. In 1992, with the permission of CBS, the show was renamed to Rescue 111 in New Zealand, this followed reports of New Zealanders calling 911 in an emergency instead of 111. The show starting was shortened with a Rescue 111 title replacing the Rescue 911 title. The format of the show remained the same and William Shatner still addressed the show as Rescue 911 along with all stories mentioning calling 911. When the final series screened in New Zealand in 1996 the show was simply called Rescue.

Notruf

German network RTL started its own version with a mix of cases from Germany and the US in 1992. The show ran for over 14 years, with the last episode broadcast on August 27, 2006.

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.^[1]

Awards

References

External links

• Rescue 911 at the Internet Movie Database
• Rescue 911 at TV.com