This was pretty much the original "rescue" drama. The scene I remember most was the team rescuing an oil field worker who was stuck in the track of a gas tank that was slowly coming down in its supporting frame. Stopping the flow of gas did not help as the lag time for the gas to compress enough to stop the tank shell from lowering was not quick enough. Very exciting stuff for the late 50's.("Spoiler Alert") Yes, they got him out. Just in time before the guide roller got to him... and for the last commercial.This type of suspense and close calls is pretty much standard in the series.

A very pleasant little TV series that was not released in France, at east, as far as I know. Each story, another case. And the most interesting is the way the rescue team has to meet the people they finally happen to help. In the beginning of each episode, you Watch some people with seemingly no connection with the lead characters - Davis and Jeffries - ordinary people, or not such as criminals, and you Wonder HOW they will have to need help...You Watch some characters study in the first half of the episode, and in the second part, you Watch the rescue sequence climax. Some funny introductions too, such as this one, where the two have to help a guy who have his hand chocked up in a street bars, to get twenty cents coin that fell here, and the rescue team has to get some soap to help the poor Citizen. And after they have helped him they say that this rescue mission cost two hundred buck for the taxpayer. Two hundred bucks for twenty five cents...I found that very funny.

61. 2/17/1960: The Square Triangle..A man falls during a fight over his fiancée and is precariously suspended on a rotted pier. Wes: Jim Davis. Newcomb: Les Tremayne. Vince: William Kendis. Lucy: Marian Wright62.2/24/1960: Ti-Ling... A Chinese girl is buried under rubble after an explosion in her father's restaurant. Wes: Jim Davis. Jimmy: James Hong. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Kim: Judy Dan.63. 3/3/1960: Lifeline... Wes and Skip race through a storm to repair a lighthouse and rescue its keeper. Evan: Tom Middleton. Wes: Jim Davis. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Cappy: Charles Irwin.64. 3/10/1960: High Lonely... A watchman is left dangling at the top of an airplane-warning tower. Wes: Jim Davis. Ernie: Johnny Seven. Dan: Syd Saylor.65. 3/17/1960: Comeback... A retired actor is trapped on the tottering top floor of his mansion. Woodward: Robert Warwick. Wes: Jim Davis. Skip: Lang Jeffries.66.3/24/1960: Quicksand... While fleeing gunmen, a man (Dabbs Greer) is buried in a landslide. Wes: Jim Davis. Skip: Lang Jeffries.67.3/31/1960: Breakdown...Emotionally disturbed Danny Tilford (Robert Redford) causes his garage to collapse---on himself. Wes: Jim Davis. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Mrs. Tilford: Sara Selby.68. 4/7/1960: School for Violence... A high-school principal is attacked by a gang of young hoodlums. Wes: Jim Davis. Justin: Bill Erwin. Jess: George Brenlin.69. 4/14/1960: The Devil's Cavern... A man falls into a cavern---and the only available help is his dog. Wes: Jim Davis. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Woodruff: William Fawcett.70. 4/21/1960: 13 Stories... Up Workers are trapped between floors in an elevator in a burning building. Wes: Jim Davis. Norris: Walter Coy. Skip: Lang Jeffries 71. 4/28/1960: Deep Danger,Running from a burglar,a woman falls into an old well left by an oil-drilling team.Wes: Jim Davis.Helen: Constance Dane. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Mike: William Phipps. Reed: Leo Needham.72. 5/5/1960: I Don't Remember... A cornered robber falls from a catwalk and is left dangling 50 feet above the ground. Wes: Jim Davis. Hal: Don Devlin. Skip: Lang Jeffries. Hawkins: Dick Ryan.73. 5/12/1960: Second Team... Skip (Lang Jeffries) rebels when a new man replaces Wes as his chief. Wes: Jim Davis. Leeds: Robert Karnes. Foreman: Len Hendry.

I can't really remember the details of the show, since I was just a little girl (sirens wailing; people being lowered down mountain cliffs on stretchers), but I do remember watching it faithfully. I believe that shows like Rescue 8 and Emergency! were instrumental in building public interest for the emergency rescue systems we now take for granted, but which were new at the time these programs aired.My fondest memory of the show is the wonderful Jim Davis. I well recall his dry, drawling, understated, but pleasant speaking voice, and his authoritative and easy way of moving around as he rescued those in trouble. He was the kind of actor who made you feel safe as you watched him. He was, and remains, my idea of a man.