why do kids in the seventies all talk like this?: www.hulu.com/watch/12093/emergency-kids 13:01
http://www.nbc.com/Vintage_Shows/Emergency/


First, let me say I love this show. I think it's great that they were so educational and straightforward with medical/first-aid terminology, effectively raising the intelligence of or assuming a high intelligence of the viewer. It was something rare, and still is, in the midst of a medium that entertains first, at the expense of viewer IQ.

That being said, after many years, I have some problems with this show. Perhaps it's the inherent nature of the limitations of television, or perhaps it is an inherent state-of-mind, an inherent language, that comes from writing for television. But certain things stood out:

- civilians are stereotypically portrayed as hysterical, panicky, impetuous, and dumb. Where is the time taken to write in a full varied cross-section of civilians - those that know something, those that are calm, those that are intelligent and actually contribute to the paramedics, instead of sitting around being reactive and emotional.

Sure, people are like this on a mass scale, but in these settings, largely intimate one-on-one settings with the paramedics, depictions of them should be more diverse.

For all of Gage's flirtatiousness, the ability to connect does produce this effect. There is some truth to it. It's not pretty, but it's true.

Some of Jack Webb's Dragnet writing was slipping into early episodes. Gage and DeSoto in early episodes were occasionally reciting dialogue about supoenas, and affidavits. I was like, did Gage go to law school before becoming a paramedic? It was strange out-of-place dialogue and content.

It was a knowledge base to a character that I didn't see have any discernable background save that of being the first paramedic and encouraging expansion of this program within the firefighting community.

I like how Gage and DeSoto are calm, well-reasoned, and have an empathetic, compassionate attitude toward all people, all civilians. No exceptions. Their job is to help people, and more than that, it is their calling. There is no question this is what they are doing. You can sense it in their devotion. It is what they were born to do.

The technical portrayals of various aspects of paramedic life, of the paramedic program, resonate within me, the attention to detail. It gave me chills as a kid and still does today. Even as a kid, it wasn't just 'cool', you had a sense there was something more to it - the detail gave it mystery, and allure. Attention to technical detail is very important in both movies and television - to do so accurately stimulates the viewers, gets them thinking and wondering, wanting to learn more.

Dixie McCall, Dr. Brackett, and Dr. Early are all level-headed characters that almost seem real, again a departure from the typical dramatics of television.

Later episodes got more into tv drama, which personally, I found conventional, but perhaps inevitable. Early episodes are intriguing.