Okay, lets just say it. Jack Webb was a man obsessed with shows that had a certain premise. That premise was two male lead characters who are partners who work as some sort of public guardians. It started with the show he starred in, Dragnet, which told the story of a pair of L.A.P.D. detectives. Then with its sister show Adam 12 (produced by Webb's Mark VII Productions) the same setup was used with a pair of uniformed cops.

   Next up was Emergency (also a Mark VII production) which told the story of a group of Los Angeles paramedics. Now while Emergency dealt with a larger cast including doctors and nurses at the hospital and many paramedics, at its center was still a duo: paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage.

   The show kept with the style of the other two series in trying to give the viewer a feeling of reality. At the time it was effective but it and the other shows, by today's standards feel a little dated. There is always a newer show in the same genre coming up and making the earlier shows seem a less real (the most recent show of this sort in this case being Third Watch).

   But we are here to talk about crossovers and spin offs and Emergency had one in its pilot movie. The pilot dealt with the efforts to get funding and make the paramedic services official. Showing up for a cameo appearance were Martin Milner and Kent McCord playing their characters from Adam 12, Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed respectively. I'm sure it was in an effort to draw attention to the new project.

   So in the Emergency pilot film it is setup that Adam-12 is part of the same world. But wait! Shortly into the first season there is an episode in which one of the subplots is one of the paramedic's obsession with an episode of Adam 12. What the? Just another case of reality confusion. Lets face it the producer's main concern is promoting their shows and getting folks to watch them. Whether that's through having shows cross over, by having characters on one of their shows saying, "Gee I really love that other show," or even doing both and causing continuity concerns in the process, it doesn't matter.

   Webb's not alone. Chris Carter had episodes of The X-Files playing on TV sets in his show Millennium only to then also have the shows cross over. I mean they are just TV shows and shouldn't be analyzed too closely... unless your writing a web site geekily obsessed with overanalyzing them of course...

Other Adam 12 Crossover Links
Adam 12 and Adam 12
Adam 12 and Dragnet

Other Emergency Crossover Links
Emergency and Sierra

Links To Emergency Web Sites
Erika & Rozane's Emergency! Home Page


Click here to return to main Crossover List
Buy these shows on Amazon.com and support this site at the same time! Check out Adam 12 and Emergency on DVD! The Emergency Season 1 DVD features the crossover mentioned on this page.




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