Movie, TV Producers Love Stories About Paramedics.

PARAMEDICS are hot these days on both the big and small screens. But then again, the emergency rescue genre has been a television and movie staple for years, going back to the "Emergency" series in the '70s and most recently Paramount Pictures' release, "Bringing Out the Dead."

"It's life and death," said Bill Cella, executive vice president in the broadcast media buying division at New York-based ad agency McCann Erickson Worldwide. "There's a lot of drama It's fast-paced action and it's compelling."

Martin Scorsese, who directed "Bringing Out the Dead," couldn't agree more. Nicholas Cage's burned-out paramedic becomes a metaphor in the film for the struggle between life and death.

"What these paramedics do is extraordinary," Scorsese said. "They are like doctors on the streets. They take care of people nobody else wants to touch."

Stories about paramedics make for great entertainment because fundamentally they are about rescues - and rescues have been the stuff of human drama for as long as people have been telling stories.

Jerry Isenberg, a USC professor of cinema and television and a former TV producer, points out that Homer's epic poem "The Illiad" isn't just the story of the fall of Troy -- it is a rescue mission. Paris abducted Helen of Troy and the Greeks tried to rescue her.

In fact, the rescue theme plays at least a partial role in most popular entertainment. The classic Western "The Magnificent Seven," is about seven men who rescue a town; "The X-Files" is a tale about an FBI agent who wants to rescue his sister from aliens; and so on.

"There is a dramatic validity to this genre," Isenberg said. "The issues are life and death. It's high-concept TV and film. 'Armageddon,' after all, is a rescue movie. Cashing in on life and death is a valid form of entertainment."

Medical shows are a popular turn on the rescue story. "MASH," one of the most successful comedies in TV history, was about surgeons in the Korean War.

In 1972, Jack Webb, who produced the gritty cop show "Dragnet," came up with "Emergency," the exploits of the L.A. County Fire Department's Paramedical Rescue Service.

In 1979, ABC tried to cash in on this life-and-death world by airing "240-Robert," a drama about the L.A. County Sheriff's Emergency Service Detail, which focused on daring rescues on land and sea In 1989, CBS came out with "Rescue 911," more tales about paramedics, police and fire fighters trying to save lives.

Ted Frank, senior vice president for current programming at NBC, said producers are on the lookout for shows in which life and death are the key elements of a dramatic story.

"They always want a franchise that involves life-and-death situations," he said. "There are just so many of them, police, medicine, the military. The appeal of Westerns was that everyday life in the Old West was a matter of life and death. The legal arena has stakes that are high."

A look at the ratings makes the reasons clear. "ER" remains the No. 1 TV drama, while NBC's "Third Watch," a new show about fire fighters and paramedics, was No. 47 for the week ended Oct. 31 (considered fairly impressive for a freshman show).

"Anything that sparks emotion on TV or in films is a killer," said Derek Baine, an analyst at Paul Kagen & Associates, a Carmel-based media-consulting firm.

Not that these shows make sure-fire hits; The WB launched a new show called "Rescue 77" last January that was a sort of next-generation version of "Emergency," but it didn't survive for the fall season.

As a rule, Hollywood tries to put a realistic face on these emergency shows -- at least as much as practical in the world of show business. "ER," "Chicago Hope" and "Third Watch" all have doctors vetting each episode.

"Frankly, I think they are pretty realistic," said Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedic surgeon at USC. "Paramedics are very conscientious men and women who have a great deal of expertise."

USC's Isenberg said he anticipates that if "Third Watch" becomes a hit, it will be followed by more dramas about paramedics, especially because "ER" has already made the world of emergency-room medicine a hot topic in Hollywood.

"They are proven shows and the networks will copy the format," he said. "'ER' is a mega-hit, and the engine that is driving all the clones of various sorts. A few years ago, everybody was bemoaning all the new sitcoms about Yuppies in New York. Before that, we ran through a period of soap opera in prime time and TV movies were hot, and now we are coming to the end of the news magazine frenzy. It's human behavior."