| 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 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, 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. At least 350 lives have been saved as a result of what viewers learned from watching "Rescue 911" [1], though the actual number is said to be much higher[citation needed]. The show's popularity coincided with the widespread adoption of the 911 emergency system, replacing standalone police and fire numbers which would vary from municipality to municipality. The number is now universally understood in the United States to be the number dialed for emergency assistance nationwide.
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 are sometimes shown on the U.K. channel, Zone Reality.
Contents |
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 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 get ice cream, 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.
In the majority of stories featured ended with 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. Deaths on the show usually occurred in documentary segments, or in segments reenacting multiple causality incidents in which other victims survived. These occasions included:
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.
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.
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. 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.
The Family Channel (FAM) began airing re-runs of Rescue 911 in the 60-minute format circa 1993, although episodes were edited for running time, and censored for profanity and religious references. At first, FAM showed the opening disclaimer at the beginning of the episodes, but the disclaimer was later replaced with a short teaser, which previewed one or two segments from the episode. Season six episodes that aired on FAM had their introductions replaced with the season 1-5 introduction, although the opening credits were not changed accordingly, and were sometimes incorrect. Seventh season episodes were never shown on FAM. When the Family Channel became the FOX Family Channel in August of 1998, Rescue 911 was removed from its lineup.
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.
The following networks have shown Rescue 911 in syndicated format:
| Season | TV season | Regular
Timeslot (EDT) |
Episode
Count |
Season premiere | Season finale | Rank | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1989-1990 | Tuesday 8:00 pm | 30 | September 5, 1989 | May 15, 1990 | #54[2] | |
| 2 | 1990-1991 | 29 | September 11, 1990 | May 14, 1991 | #31[3][4] | ||
| 3 | 1991-1992 | 27 | September 17, 1991 | May 19. 1992 | #27[5] | ||
| 4 | 1992-1993 | 28 | September 15, 1992 | May 25, 1993 | #13[6] | 15.1[6] | |
| 5 | 1993-1994 | 28 | September 14, 1993 | May 24, 1994 | #29[6] | 13.2[6] | |
| 6 | 1994-1995 | 29 | September 13, 1994 | May 23, 1995 | #48[7] | 10.8[7] | |
| 7 | 1995-1996 | Thursday 9:00 pm | 15 | September 12, 1995 | August 27, 1996 | #84[8] | 7.7[8] |
Season 2
Season 3
Season 7
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.
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.
In its earlier seasons, ads were shown after the end credits of the Rescue 911 that gave an 800 number that viewers could call to order a copy of that night's broadcast. This ad was not shown in later seasons.
On May 27, 1997, "Rescue 911: World's Greatest Rescues" was released on VHS. This video featured five stories of rescue attempts from around the world; segments were taken from both the U.S. and international versions of Rescue 911. The segments on the video were edited for running time, and the original narration on all segments (including those originally narrated by William Shatner) is dubbed over by an uncredited narrator. The two stories taken from the U.S. version were about a New Zealand girl pinned beneath a flaming gasoline tanker, and the infamous documentary of the Stuart murder case in Boston, Massachusetts. The other three stories, taken from international versions of the show, were about a Belgian family trapped in a car hanging precariously from a high bridge, a Russian hostage crisis in which a terrorist held two woman captive, and an Austrian skier who fell into an underground glacier river.
No plans have been announced for additional home video releases of Rescue 911
Several books were written that recounted stories featured on Rescue 911:
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | People's Choice Awards | Won | Favorite New TV Dramatic Series |
|
| 1992 | BMI Film & TV Awards | BMI TV Music Award | Scott Roewe and Stu Goldberg | |
| 1993 | BMI TV Music Award | Scott Roewe and Stu Goldberg | ||
| 1994 | BMI TV Music Award | Scott Roewe and Stu Goldberg |
   | The Internet Pinball Database Presents Rescue 911 - Internet Pinball Machine Database: Premier 'Rescue 911' |
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