Alley Cat

Caught parts of this, the rescue of the plane crash victims, the choking child, and the boater.

If you had lived in Los Angeles at the time, you might remember the brown color to the air, from all of the smog. Since the advent of the catalytic converter, and other smog control devices, this has largely disappeared.

This series always had a number of setup situations, and how the recuses are performed. Sometimes bits of the aftermath, like the wife and daughter of the plane pilot are shown.

One item of note, this episode was first aired Oct 6, 1973. The schoolchild was choking on a small round item. It looked like no-one knew what to do but wait for the rescue squad. But the Heimlich maneuver was not invented until 1974, so then this becomes understandable.

Speaking of the school, a blink-and-you-missed-it appearance by Virginia Vincent, who had previously appeared in six episodes of Dragnet, one of Emergency!, and would appear in two episodes of Adam-12 in 1974. These among many other TV and movie roles.

Btw, a mother cat can definitely move several newborn kittens in an hour or so. I know this from having fed feral cats. Newborn kittens have their eyes closed and are just learning to move.

Another good episode, but the bit with the pregnant cat that wandered into the station had an unrealistic ending. Only hours after the kittens are born the mother and offspring disappear. The guys return from a run, and the cat family is nowhere in sight. I'd sure like to know how a cat with four kittens can pick them all up and move elsewhere.

In the hospital, an opportunity for a major laugh was missed. Doctors Bracket and Early are working on the case of the woman with a brain injury. To finish the scene, Early says "Lets look at those pictures." They start doing so, and the scene ends. I thought it would have been hysterical if the pictures had been from Early's vacation.

It's understandable that they didn't do it, as Emergency isn't a comedy. But I would have been rolling on the floor laughing.

The rescue of the boater is one of the best, most realistic rescue scenes in the series. Like the rescue of the cops in the near-shore helicopter crash in a later episode (S6:E8), Randy Mantooth's Johnny leads the action and the dialog. I have no inside information but much of the dialog in that scene seems ad-libbed ... and it's AWESOME.

Also watch for another good performance by Julie London's Nurse McCall in the cafeteria with the kid.