Madison Meeks – Opinion Editor

mvm7037@psu.edu

Firefighters have been becoming popular in television series since 2012. Every major cable television network such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. Even though other television stations have released other firefighter shows, this is just going to focus on the four major cable stations currently airing firefighter shows. 

NBC first came out with the popular television show “Chicago Fire” in 2012, the other television networks seemed to follow in NBC’s footsteps in 2018 with the release of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Station 19” and FOX’s “9-1-1”. FOX then released in 2020, the “9-1-1” spin-off series “9-1-1: Lone Star” which in my opinion is the best firefighter show. In 2022, CBS finally released a firefighter show “Fire Country”. But out of all the firefighter shows FOX’s “9-1-1” franchise is the best firefighter shows on television.

FOX’s “9-1-1” franchise consists of two series “9-1-1” and “9-1-1: Lone Star”. I believe that these two shows are the best firefighter shows that are currently airing on a major television station. “9-1-1” takes place in Los Angeles, California, and “9-1-1: Lone Star” takes place in Austin, Texas which is interesting to see the rescues that happen on the show that are taken from real-life events that happen in those huge cities. Even though not every storyline is based on a true event, having rescues that are based on a real event makes the show even more interesting. 

Personally, a few things that make these two shows stand out from other firefighter shows is that not only do the shows focus on firefighters, but also focus on police officers, 9-1-1 dispatchers, and paramedics. I have seen shows that just focus on police officers or just firefighters but never both. For sure I have never seen a show that talks about the dispatchers or a show that truly talks about the paramedics. “9-1-1: Lone Star” focuses on the paramedics alongside the firefighters more than any show that I have seen. The characters are likable and interesting, and the character development and storylines are incredible. There is such a diverse cast on the show “9-1-1: Lone Star” even “9-1-1” have a diverse cast.

There are so many storylines on the shows that are so incredibly made and that stood out to me. A storyline that stood out to me on “9-1-1” was the recent storyline where one of the characters Hen thought she wanted to be a doctor. Hen started medical school but then realized that her true passion was to be a firefighter. I feel like that storyline resonated with people because you might think you want to do something but then your true passion was something else. 

A storyline of “9-1-1: Lone Star ” that stood out to me was a storyline about one of the characters T.K and his grief when he loses his mother. T.K has to cope with his mother’s death and try to keep his sobriety because he does not want to disappoint his mother since she helped him become sober and helped him while he was struggling with addiction. I think this storyline was one of the best storylines I have ever seen on television that handled the topics of grief and addiction. I have seen so many shows that just graze over the subject of grief and act like grief does not happen so it was interesting to see that storyline talk about grief the way that it did. 

There are so many parts of the “9-1-1” franchise that are just incredible. Which makes these two shows the best firefighter shows on television.