Emergency!
It's How You Play the Game
TV Flash files “It's How You Play the Game” as hour 73 of 128 in the TV Flash guide — Emergency! (1972–1979) on NBC, season 4, episode 19, aired 1975-02-01, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E19: listed hour 73 of 128 in the Emergency! guide, hour 19 of 22 in season 4. It aired 1975-02-01 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Prestidigitation” (S04E18). Next is “The Mouse” (S04E20).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Johnny makes a bet with Squad 36 that the loser of their baseball game at the firemen's picnic pays for the entire picnic, which angers the firehouse until Chet becomes their pitcher after their regular pitcher breaks his arm. In rescuing a drunk man from a car accident, the man punches Johnny in the nose; he then throws a witty remark to Dixie, who herself, reveals, threw one at an unruly man. When two more people come into the ER with the same symptoms, the cause is traced to lead poisoning from moonshine; later the man making the illegal brew sets fire to the place and the firefighters have to rescue him. The firefighters also save a famous car dealer trapped inside one of his cars with a tiger while filming a commercial and a man with back problems stuck in his waterbed.
Viewer FAQ
Where does It's How You Play the Game sit in the Emergency! guide?
S04E19 is listed hour 73 of 128 — hour 19 of 22 in season 4, season 4 episode 19.
When did Emergency! S04E19 air?
It's How You Play the Game aired 1975-02-01 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…