Paramedics (TV series)
Paramedics was a medical-based television reality show that ran on TLC from 1998 to 2001 and now runs infrequently on Discovery Health Channel. A spin-off of Trauma: Life in the E.R., Paramedics followed the activities of teams of EMTs and paramedics in a number of large urban centers in the United States. The series was never as popular in its original run on TLC as its parent show Trauma, but it has found a home on Discovery Health Channel, serving in a four-show rotation in the 1800-2000 EST/EDT time block with Code Blue: New Orleans, Code Blue: Savannah, and Trauma: Life in the ER.
The show had no regular cast; every week featured a different city and a different group of paramedics. Actor Michael McGlone narrated the series. Composer Chuck Hammer scored the series.
The excitement as well as the occasional tedium of being a member of a paramedic team is evident, as cases ranging from life-and-death to broken wrists to false calls are all featured. The show differed from Trauma: Life in the E.R. in that it did not show surgeries and hospital discharges. Instead, it focused on the importance of a paramedic's immediate care and social skills in dealing with a variety of (often resistant and combative) people.
The staff of the program included many of the same producers and videographers who produced Trauma: Life in the E.R., and many of the cities featured in the series overlapped with the locations of episodes of Trauma: Life in the E.R.—and were often shot at the same time.
Paramedics was produced by Discovery Channel Pictures and distributed by The Discovery Channel.