H.E.L.P. is an American television drama series which aired on ABC for one season as a mid-season replacement for Mission: Impossible, which was a replacement for Mr. Belvedere in March 1990. The series was created by Christopher Crowe and Dick Wolf, and starred John Mahoney as Chief Patrick Meacham of the New York City Fire Department. Wesley Snipes played police officer Lou Barton and David Caruso played police officer Frank Sardoni of the NYPD.[1]

H.E.L.P.
Created by
Written by
  • David Black
  • Dick Wolf
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composerJerry Goldsmith
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Christopher Crowe
  • Dick Wolf
ProducerMichael Rauch
CinematographyConstantine Makris
Editors
  • Mark Newman
  • Drake Silliman
Running time60 min
Production companies
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseMarch 3 (1990-03-03) –
April 7, 1990 (1990-04-07)

The premise of the show was based on an experimental combined emergency services station (the Harlem Eastside Life-saving Program, or HELP) in New York City that co-located the resources of the Fire Department, Police Department and Emergency Medical Services.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

The series was canceled after its brief six-episode run. The concept of a show involving all three branches of NYC emergency services was successfully reintroduced nine years later with the 1999 debut of Third Watch, which ran for six seasons on NBC.

Cast

edit

Episodes

edit
No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Fire Down Below"March 3, 1990 (1990-03-03)
2"Are You There, Alpha Centauri?"March 10, 1990 (1990-03-10)
3"The Children's Hour"March 17, 1990 (1990-03-17)
4"Steam Heat"March 24, 1990 (1990-03-24)
5"To Everything, There Is a Season"March 31, 1990 (1990-03-31)
6"Undue Force"April 7, 1990 (1990-04-07)

References

edit
  1. ^ "H.E.L.P." nostalgiacentral.com. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  2. ^ "SHORT TAKES : 'Mission Impossible' Scrubbed, Will Be Replaced by 'H.E.L.P.'". Los Angeles Times. February 14, 1990.
  3. ^ Toure, Yemi (February 16, 1990). "First Ills: Barbara Bush was having health..." Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ "Sitcom to star Mull, Faracy". Chicago Tribune. February 20, 1990.
  5. ^ Hanauer, Joan (February 28, 1990). "Firemen, cops and paramedics all work together in 'H.E.L.P.,'..." United Press International.
  6. ^ Pergament, Alan (March 1, 1990). "H.E.L.P.' Series needs more than Mahoney to do better". The Buffalo News.
  7. ^ "ABC's H.E.L.P. has P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S." Deseret News. March 3, 1990.
  8. ^ Rosenberg, Howard (March 3, 1990). "TV Reviews: 'H.E.L.P.': There's Life in the Rescue Genre Yet". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ^ Burlingame, Jon (March 3, 1990). "PRIME-TIME PICK". Tampa Bay Times.
  10. ^ O'Connor, John J. (March 9, 1990). "Review/Television; Adventures in the Fight Against Drug Dealers". New York Times.
edit