The Era of Social Relevance Essay Example

The era of social relevance increased the want to watch television. The year 1972 was the center of an era that introduced a new style of entertainment, targeting its viewers, specifically, relating to them and the real world problems surrounding viewers, outside of television entertainment. The show, Emergency!, was seen as a perfect representation of what this era of entertainment brought to network tv. Through a successful 6 years of airtime, Emergency! used techniques and strategies behind the curtains, to keep the audience interested through the show's 122 episodes.

Looking deeper into the social relevance era of television, it can also be defined as the era of realism. Founding fathers, Norman Lear, Allan Burns, Jim Brooks, and Larry Gelbart wanted to “Nudge the real world towards the center of the stage.” As said in the article, “The Turn Towards ‘Relevance”, written by Todd Gitlin. What Gitlin means, describing the words of the founding fathers, is that their goal was to organize television shows and movies into a schedule that an audience could relate to. With the Vietnam War nearing its end, and uprising of political and social movements, the people of America developed an anti-authoritarian view on life. This caused the shift in television networks and what was being shown on those networks. For example, the show M*A*S*H, is based on a medical team located in South Korea, helping the wounded of the war. The show became extremely popular following the audience’s views of anti-war sentiment. Gitlin explains a story from Mike Farrell, one of the actors in the show, that said:

“We also got a wonderful letter from a kid who said that he intended to be a professional soldier, and after watching our show over the years he had seen that that’s now what he wanted to do, and as a matter of fact he decided to become a priest.” 

The implementation of realism, anit-authoritarian, and other detailed traits in television was a huge risk, but ultimately a huge success in recent productions of the early 70’s. To provide more evidence, take a look at a typical primetime broadcast during fall of 1972: 

Viewing programs like, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Emergency!, is a perfect description of what networks were actually trying to do. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, highlighted a young and single mother who took on the world through difficult circumstances throughout her life. Before this era, women seemed objectified, and were considered not as important as men. By having a woman as the lead role in the show, it glamoured women and showed that they are just as equal as men in everyday life, which assisted in the women's rights movements in the 70’s, making the show extremely popular as shown by the ratings. Emergency! Also followed the realism train.

Compared to Grey’s Anatomy, Emergency! was similar, but produced 40 years earlier. The show entailed the adventures and journey of paramedics and medical personnel of Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51. Throughout the show, they respond to emergencies whether it was a major disaster or a minor car accident. More of a drama, this show also hinted at sides of comedic relief and filled with action and adventure. Emergency! aired for 6 years on the NBC network, mostly on Saturday night primetime. Created by Jack Webb and Robert Cinader, who were well known later on for creating more hit shows, wanted to implement real-world drama and action, while providing comedic relief in times where the show caused lots of stress on the audience. Popular cast names included Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, Julie London, Robert Fuller, and Bobby Troup. Mantooth and Tighe were the stars of the show as they formed a popular duo throughout the show. 

“The kind of show that one can stand if there's nothing else on the Tube.” Explained in an article in a review about the show. One thing that was certain about the show and how it lasted so long, if it was just seen as a ‘back-up’, was that the audience “Loved the trauma and instant disasters”, said in another article about the show. Randolph Mantooth explains in an article interview that co-producer, Robert Cinader pulled real rescues and situations to influence the writing and ideas of episodes in the future. This helps tell the idea that realism was the focus for a successful television program during the time. The show was also known for including famous celebrities, an example being an episode where they included a Miami Dolphins football player as a victim of a disaster. The show also hosted John Travolta, one of his first appearances on screen. The creators of the show wanted to follow along with what was happening in the real world, like said before, in the era of social relevance, this was very important to the success of the show. 

The legacy of Emergency! was much more than just a television show that provided entertainment for audiences. Said in review about the show, it was described as an “Encouragement to develop EMS strategies and techniques.” Before this show, there were many flaws to working in the medical field that included not needing to have a license to practice. This show also influenced the development of more hospitals and fire stations as there were only 12 paramedic units in North America when the show first hit television. The show, already being a spin-off of Adam-12, also created by Jack Webb, influenced two feature length films that were released as ‘spin-offs’ of the television show. 

Taking a look back on the primetime tv schedule of a typical night during the fall season, recognizing the traits and competition of Emergency!, also shown in other programs. One specific show is Emergency! viewed as competition was All in the family. The show was highly rated at #1 and aired during the first half-hour of Emergency!. The popularity of the show started to ‘surge’ past All in the family as it maintained a large audience, which eventually kept the show running against two top ten shows that aired at the same time. Sharing qualities and traits in each show, while also having many differences, networks were also seen as competition to NBC, which aired Emergency!. For example, CBS, during the fall season of primetime tv, aired 13 of the top 30 rated programs during a week while ABC aired 9 and NBC aired 8. Knowing this information, it could cause network biases of ‘what network has the best shows’ and ‘what network is worth my time’, speaking as an audience member. 

1977 was the last year, Emergency! was aired. The show ended during a time of change; ‘Return To Normalcy’ put a new set of strict rules on networks and programs. The creators of the show used the social relevance era traits to its advantage in targeting specific audiences, displaying efforts of realism through scenarios that actually happened and can happen, and using a vast variety of cast members and celebrities to keep the show interesting. Emergency! was never a well known show, but the ethics of how Emergency! was created and distributed to audience members and will leave its mark in history during the era of social relevance.