Emergency!
Messin' Around
TV Flash files “Messin' Around” as hour 48 of 128 in the TV Flash guide — Emergency! (1972–1979) on NBC, season 3, episode 16, aired 1974-01-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E16: listed hour 48 of 128 in the Emergency! guide, hour 16 of 22 in season 3. It aired 1974-01-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Inferno” (S03E15). Next is “Fools” (S03E17).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Chet, adopting a persona he calls "The Phantom Bomber," nails Johnny with a number of practical jokes, for which Johnny later gets his revenge. A child is stuck in a tree house (with the tree burning underneath) and is rescued by Johnny; the girl's widowed mother takes an interest in him, all the while, Dixie takes care of the mother, who herself also has slight burns. The girl then fields a visit from an elderly man and frequent visitor to Rampart known as "Old Bill." Dixie, Drs. Brackett, and Early think "Old Bill" is a hypochondriac until Roy and Johnny find him unconscious in his home with septic shock. Johnny and Roy help a moaning man after his wife gives him Dieffenbachia sap to shut him up, a gas station attendant with a perforated ulcer, a young boy who swallows ant poison and later dies–his mother thought he was just trying to "get attention"–and three men stuck after a bulldozer accident.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Messin' Around sit in the Emergency! guide?
S03E16 is listed hour 48 of 128 — hour 16 of 22 in season 3, season 3 episode 16.
When did Emergency! S03E16 air?
Messin' Around aired 1974-01-12 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Squad 51 and Rampart as a closed loop: Gage, DeSoto, and the ER doctors. Rescue-of-the-week structure does not need a binge map.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Squad 51 rolls before medical dramas discovered handheld cameras and hallway shouting. Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe play paramedics as civic heroes while Jack Webb's shop keeps the procedures honest. The series that sold America on paramedic programs, sirens included, without turning the station house into a soap.
Squad 51 rolling is the whole assignment: L.A. County firefighter-paramedics answer rescue calls while Rampart Hospital doctors support from the ER, and NBC's Emergency! (1972–1979) keeps the procedures honest before medical dramas discovered handheld cameras and hallway shouting. Harold Jack Bloom, R.A. Cinader, and Jack Webb's Mark VII shop put Randolph Mantooth's John Gage and Kevin Tighe's Roy DeSoto in the squad with documentary-style urgency. Robert Fuller's Dr. Kelly Brackett, Julie London's Dixie McCall,…
Filed against
- Robert Fuller as Dr. Kelly Brackett
Robert Fuller's Dr. Kelly Brackett backed Emergency! before medical dramas discovered handheld cameras and hallway shouting — Squad 51 rolling, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as civic heroes, Jack Webb's shop keeping procedures honest.…
- Julie London as Dixie McCall
Julie London’s Dixie McCall kept Emergency! honest in the hospital — Squad 51 rolling before medical dramas discovered handheld cameras and hallway shouting, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as paramedics, Jack Webb’s shop keeping…
- Randolph Mantooth as Firefighter John Gage
Randolph Mantooth played Firefighter John Gage on Emergency!, 1970s Squad 51 rolling before medical dramas discovered handheld cameras and hallway shouting. Kevin Tighe as partner, Jack Webb’s shop keeping the procedures honest. TV Flash…
- Kevin Tighe as Firefighter Roy DeSoto
Kevin Tighe's Firefighter Roy DeSoto rolled Squad 51 on Emergency! before medical dramas discovered hallway shouting — paramedics as civic heroes, Jack Webb's shop keeping procedures honest, sirens as a public argument. TV Flash files him…
- Bobby Troup as Dr. Joe Early
Bobby Troup’s Dr. Joe Early rode Emergency! before medical dramas discovered hallway shouting — Squad 51, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as paramedics, Jack Webb’s shop keeping procedures honest, the series that sold America on…