Rescue Special Ops

Too bad this won't happen until possibly 2012. The first two seasons production was only 13 episodes each. Season 3 was just announced and will yield 22 episodes. With 48 in the can maybe we'll see this in the U.S and U.K. Is shown on Channel 9 Australia. You can watch some episodes on You Tube though. It's worth watching even with the splitting of each episodes into 5 or 6 parts as is the custom with You Tube. This show is filmed in, and around Sydney. The program is produced by Southern Star Entertainment with the assistance of Screen Australia and the New South Wales Government. The high energy action drama series focuses on a team of experienced professional paramedics who specialize in unique rescue operations. The only recognizable one of the cast of stars to U.S. and U.K. viewers would be Gigi Edgely, (Chiana) of Farscape fame. Give it a go, you'll like the wonderful photography of outdoor down under.

This started out such a great show!! Great characters, great situations, love the theme song which absolutely fits the show. Season 1 and Season 2 kept you wanting more. Unfortunately, by the end of the 2nd season, the producers decided to start focusing mainly on the characters, making them too impulsive, reckless, and so caught up in their personal lives they could barely function. Instead of keeping the reality of life front and center, troubled souls got slaps on the wrists, bar invites, and more exciting plots to show their foolish need for another adrenaline rush. The 3rd and last season almost abandoned the whole premise of the show -- Rescue. Almost every episode was predictable and flat. I wish I hadn't wanted it to end, because it started out So Well, but by Episode 22, I was done.

Found this on Amazon Prime and decided to give it a shot. I was quickly impressed with the authenticity of the rescue methods and realism, even though the show is 10 years old. The characters are believable but with just enough drama to keep things interesting and fluid. I enjoyed having Sydney and surrounding areas literally brought into my living room as many of the locations were real, including areas where they referenced lat/longs - Google Maps is great for that! I do regret this only lasted for three seasons and can't find out why it ended so soon.

Lara is very childish, over steps the rules and puts herself and others at risk. She likes Dean in his bu way too much, engaged to Hamish and marries him, but still flirts with others. None of these people act professional. Even the boss having sex on her desk.

I live in the US and had never heard of this series before finding it on Freevee not long ago (15 years after it aired!). It only caught my attention because I'm a big Farscape fan and Gigi Edgley is in it. So I watched the first episode and was immediately drawn in and am halfway through season one.

It doesn't rise to the level of a binge watch but it's an entertaining and fast paced series that brings to mind some of the good old shows from the US like Emergency, back was TV was simpler and just tried to be entertaining. It does have some drawbacks, it's obviously shot on a limited budget; just watched an episode about two boats crashing into one another and they didn't show the actual accident because obviously that would have cost too much money. But the show is well enough written and acted to overcome that. It also does pretty well with the characters and their interaction though again, with some drawbacks; Les Hill's character is pretty unlikable and basically a bit of a jerk and since he's one of the main characters that gets grating at times. Some of the other characters do stupid things from time to time as well but that's in any show you watch. And Edgley and Katherine Hicks provide very nice eye candy but aren't there just for that, both are also interesting and well developed characters who mesh well into the story lines. Edgley's character can be a bit over the top at times and I don't know why they decided to have her be engaged to someone when there's such obvious sexual tension between her and Hill's character, at times it puts her character in a less than admirable light.

Over all though it's a fast moving and entertaining series that I'm wishing now had more seasons for me to watch. And being from the US it's interesting to see New South Wales Australia which looks beautiful. Unfortunately I doubt I'll ever see it in person; 18+ hour plane ride and all....

If you're looking for a good old fashioned procedural about first responders that goes light on agenda's and politics and ideologies this is the series for you.