Case of the (Re)Runs: Emergency!

He was in City of Hope, too. I love seeing Tighe and all the other regulars pop up in John Sayles movies. I don't know that Randolph Mantooth did much else after this except a soap opera.

I loved 240 Robert! John Bennett Perry was Trap, or T.R. Applegate. Mark Harmon was Dwayne Thibodeaux, or Thib. My best friend and I used to act out all the roles and we called each other Trap and Thib for years. Yes, we were total dorks. I still have an autographed Mark Harmon picture from that era.

I love how old TV episodes just pop into my head all the time. Every time I'm driving down a street and a pedestrian jaywalks I think about that Emergency! episode where someone fakes getting hit by the ambulance so they can sue.

And don't you love the TV guide headline in the opening post . . . video records!

 

I watch "Ironside" on RTV on days I work from home. It's terrific in its awfulness.

 

OK, this might be one of the show's best episodes. Just watched it after working on Saturday night.

From season 3 ... "The Hard Hours."

Basic plot: Dr. Joe Early undergoes open heart surgery after some warning signs of cardiovascular disease show up in a routine physical. Sounds heavy, right?

Ah, but we also get to enjoy:

1. A beefy Dick Butkus getting rescued by Roy and Johnny. (they refer to him as "The Animal." I thought that was the drummer for the Muppets band!)

2. Gage and DeSoto rescue a beautiful girl who's nekkid in the bathtub (there are strategically placed bubbles). Her foot gets stuck in the faucet. Roy does the honors, while a flustered Johnny locks himself out of the squad.

3. A cameo role for a very young Nick Nolte.

4. Last but not least, a recovering Dr. Early reading Playboy in his hospital bed. He hides it under the sheets when the gang comes in to visit.

Quality entertainment!

 

I haven't seen it in a while, but I'm pretty sure he played one of the union-busting thugs.

 

I haven't seen an episode of Emergency! in at least 25 or 30 years, but I remember that episode!

 

Must've been his Christopher Reeves-Deathtrap attempt at not being typecast as a do-gooder paramedic.

 

When I started watching as a kid, the series was already in syndication so I got to see the early episodes after school, as well as the current ones for a while (the syndicated series was renamed "Emergency One.")

After the series ended, the franchise continued with six made-for-TV movies until 1979. (ADD: I just saw the TV movies will be released on DVD late next month.)

 

A few years back my mother and I were visiting my grandmother and Emergency! (gotta use the exclamation point!) comes on the TV.
The opening credits are rolling, and it comes to the part where Gage is introduced. The chemical tankers are exploding in the background, he's hunched over an injured construction worker and he coolly pops the tops on two vials of lactate ringers or some shit. As he pops the top off with his thumbs, the camera freezes on him at a moment when he's doing what looks like a double-thumbs up, complete with shit-eating grin.
My mom, bless her heart, goes all squishy and randomly blurts out, "I like that Randolph Mantooth. He's good."
My grandmother says nothing, and there's this weird awkward silence. Meanwhile, I'm biting my lip as hard as I can to keep from laughing. One of the weirdest, most random moments in the history of my life.

 

RanMan in 2010 = Stud.



His partner? He grew the look for this play, but I like it. Stud.



So, studs ahoy.