History YMMV / Emergency

** At the time, [=EMS=] education was very limited, with paramedic programs lasting only 200 hours or so. Nowadays, paramedics are given associate’s (two year) degrees, with clinical knowledge on par with nurses.

** It took a while for the show to hit its stride. About the length of time it took for Chet and Marco to grow their {{PornStache}}s and Gage to grow his mullet.

** Considering that paramedics and their variants are now a standard part of emergency medical practices, the sight of people arguing against their very purpose and function look even more idiotic now than ever. It should be remembered, however, that the pilot was filmed when the program was still experimental, and Dr. Brackett’s objections reflect real-life concerns brought up at the time.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The show is this due to attempts to be as medically and technologically up-to-the-minute accurate as possible. Among the many cases of ScienceMarchesOn and TechnologyMarchesOn, the hair and clothing styles, and "mother-may-I" need to talk to the doctors at the hospital to do anything, the show is very firmly entrenched in the 1970s.

** In several episodes, Johnny continually attempts to get women to go out with him, despite their initial (and sometimes very strong) "NO". Today, that'd be sexual harassment.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Randy Mantooth and Kevin Tighe went through the paramedic training of the Los Angeles County Fire Department at the time in order to accurately portray their roles. Had they not skipped the final exam, they would've been fully-certified paramedics.

* [[HarsherinHindsight Harsher in Hindsight]]:

* JerkAss: The diner owner play by Larry Storch in "Saddled".

* WhatAnIdiot: An early season 5 episode features a woman whose son is displaying early signs of polio. She at first insisted it had to be something else then said that she hadn't gotten him the vaccine because she thought it had been controlled to the point where it was impossible to contract the disease any more. Also qualifies as HarsherInHindsight due to the anti-vax movement of the 2010s & the resulting outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be nearly eradicated and/or under control. And then Covid happened....

* WhatAnIdiot: An early season 5 episode features a woman whose son is displaying early signs of polio. She at first insisted it had to be something else then said that she hadn't gotten him the vaccine because she thought it had been controlled to the point where it was impossible to contract the disease any more. Also qualifies as HarsherInHindsight due to the current anti-vax movement of the 2010s & the resulting outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be nearly eradicated and/or under control.

** An early season 5 episode features a woman whose son is displaying early signs of polio. She at first insisted it had to be something else then said that she hadn't gotten him the vaccine because she thought it had been controlled to the point where it was impossible to contract the disease any more. Due to the current anti-vax movement of the 2010s & the resulting outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be nearly eradicated and/or under control, this really hits hard, despite the show being from the 1970s.

* JerkAss: The diner owner play by Larry Storch in "Saddled".

* GrowingTheBeard:
** It took a while for the show to hit its stride. About the length of time it took for Chet and Marco to grow their {{PornStache}}s and Gage to grow his mullet.
** You can trace the subtle development of TV shooting styles through the 70s by watching ER scenes on the show. The first few seasons look like sick bay scenes from ''Franchise/StarTrek'', shot in a wide, flat master, the action plays slow and the blocking is designed around wringing the drama out of every line (indeed many episodes were shot by ''Star Trek'' director Joseph Pevney). As the series goes on, the camera gets more [[JitterCam handheld]], gets closer to the action, and the dialogue runs much faster.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/JohnTravolta had his first role as an injured hiker in "Kids."

** An early season 5 episode features a woman whose son is displaying early signs of polio. She at first insisted it had to be something else then said that she hadn't gotten him the vaccine because she thought it had been controlled to the point where it was impossible to contract the disease any more. Due to the current anti-vax movement of the 2010s & the resulting outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be nearly eradicated and/or under control, this really hits hard, despite the show being over 40 years old.

** Considering that paramedics and their variants are now a standard part of emergency medical practices, the sight of people arguing against their very purpose and function look even more idiotic now than ever.

** Chet spends the entirety of "Peace Pipe" making racist jokes about Johnny's Native American heritage. It's played for laughs but John clearly does ''not'' find it funny and says so. It's also TruthInTelevision, as Randy Mantooth is of Seminole heritage.

** Chet spends the entirety of "Peace Pipe" making racist jokes about Johnny's Native American heritage. It's played for laughs but John clearly does ''not'' find it funny and says so.