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Emergency! was TV's ''biggest bargain'' during the 1970s
"At times, we feel upset by the low pay," Tighe said.
In the early 1970s, Emergency! took the country by storm as one of the first series to bring public awareness to EMS and popularize firefighters as heroes. What started as a show about fire engines and saving lives quickly turned into something much bigger.
With all the influence Emergency! had on the country, one might think that the series’ two stars, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe, were paid big bucks. Not only did they act, but they also saved lives, sometimes even real ones.
But according to a 1972 interview with the News & Record, the two actors were the biggest bargain in all of television at the time. They spent their days on set scaling high places, standing too close to fires, and yet somehow still held it together in front of the cameras.
According to the interview, they did all of this while working under Universal Studios’ basic newcomer contract: $250 a week for the first year, $300 for the second, and $400 a week for the third year.
Compared with James Arness and Mike Connors, who each made more than $1 million a year, it’s clear Mantooth and Tighe were making far less than they deserved—especially given the demands of their onscreen roles.
But the money was only half of it. Their schedules were constant, sleep was scarce, and the long hours at the studio and on location proved to be as challenging as the pay.
"Last season we worked 15 to 18 hours a day until we were ill," Tighe said. "Then they brought in doctors and had them stay on the set to give us pills. There was never a show in which so much was done in so little time."
Part of Emergency!'s challenges stemmed from the frantic race to compete with All in the Family, which aired opposite them on CBS and was becoming one of the nation’s most popular shows.
This added fuel to the fire, making it a challenge far bigger than the two actors—or even two firefighters, for that matter—could handle.
"One night, we finished the last scene of the show at 11:30 p.m. and thought we were going home," Tighe said. "We were so tired we couldn't even think."
According to the interview, when Tighe and Mantooth finally finished taping all the episodes in season one, Webb gave each of them a $5,000 bonus. But given the toll the schedule took—and seeing other actors get rich—they said it felt more like a pity bonus than fair compensation.
"At times, we feel upset by the low pay," Tighe said.
"But then we think where we'd be if we weren't on the show," Mantooth added.
