Emergency! – Season Five (1976 – 1977/Universal DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C- Episodes: C
We have looked only at Season Two of Emergency
previously and now jump cut to Season
Five, which you can read more about, along with basic information on the
series at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3373/Emergency!+-+Season+Two+(Uni
Well, the show was starting to wear thin as these types of
“talk at you” dramas often did, but it was at least somewhat consistent in what
became repetition. Stars this season
included the Sharon Gless, Jeannie Cooper, Wolfman Jack, Helen Page Camp, Ted
Gehring, Cynthia Sykes, Virginia Gregg, William Bryant, Matthew ‘Stymie’ Beard,
Liam Dunn, Lucille Benson, James G. Richardson and Joan Shawlee.
By 1976, the show was facing competition from new shows,
more energetic shows and shows with somewhat younger casts for better and
worse, but it still hang in there just the same. I give the cast credit for giving it their
all, but I am surprised the studio did not try to shake things up to make the
show fresher in some way, but since it was a hit, they likely did not want to
fix something that was not broke. Too
bad it has aged in mixed ways.
The 1.33 X 1 image continues to sadly be surprisingly soft
for a filmed show of its time, with good color slightly dulled and a harsh look
on each show. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
is not much better this time with distortion, warping and even crackling
atypical of most audio from the time.
There is one extra this time in a crossover episode of Adam-12 intended for inclusion in a Season Five set whenever that is
released by Shout! Factory, licensing from Universal. They have some catching up to do.
- Nicholas Sheffo
