‘Rescue 911’ Is the Best TV Show for Quality Screen Time

The Story that Stops Teens Cold

Every parent I know has said it at least once. "My kids are always on their phone." But don't give up hope. Your kids aren't unreachable. They just need a captivating story worth remembering. And one tired, drunk teenager driving alone at night is about to show them exactly what one bad decision really costs. I started showing these stories to my own kids when they were little, and now my two teens still remember every single one. "Rescue 911" doesn't ask your kids to put their phone down. It gives them a reason to.

Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks

Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks. I'm your host, Jennifer Avila, and this is the only podcast where every recommendation is backed by 35 plus years of watching everything I recommend so you don't waste another night on the wrong pick.

Let's get into it.

What you Missed in Episode 3

If you want the full backstory, the format, William Shatner, why it's considered the original reality TV, I'll link episode three in the show notes. What I'll tell you here is it's appropriate for all ages, but I highly recommend watching it as a family, and Shatner prefaces any heavier storylines so you can preview before watching with younger kids. This is one of those shows that never gets old, primarily because most, if not all of the emergencies still occur today. Every story I'm sharing today is still available to watch for free on YouTube. And I'll link every single one in the extended show notes at wholesometvpicks.com so you can watch them with your family. Here are some examples.

The Boy Who Learned the Hard Way

There's a young boy about the age of ten or eleven who's home alone after his mom leaves to go run a couple of errands. Well, he decides it's a good time to bust out the M80 a friend at school gave to him. He's got the M80 in his left hand and he has a lighter in his right hand and he's sitting there just toying with the flame. Sweeping the flame back and forth through the fuse and nothing's happening until suddenly the fuse is ignited. He's panicked, but it's already too late, and before he knows it, boom! The M80 goes off, blows him backwards onto the bed. He's calling 911. You hear the horrific screaming and yelling in this boy's voice on the phone calling for help and trying to explain that he blew his hand off. The fire department is dispatched, the ambulance, and they get to the home, find him on the phone with a towel over his hand. The ambulance personnels mentioned that the hand was literally just hanging by muscle tissue or skin.

Why Mom's Say This Countless Times

Next we have the old adage of never run with scissors in your hand. You may or may not remember your mom or your grandma telling you this and be and thinking, yeah, okay, whatever. Well, this little boy that looks to be about six or seven years old goes into the bathroom to wash his hands and the camera pans to the counter from the boy's perspective, he's looking down and sees a pair of barber scissors. The little boy grabs the scissors and runs out of the bathroom down the hall with them.

Next thing you know. The camera pans back over to the kitchen with the mom on the phone, and the little boy comes in with the scissors in his hand and you can see some blood on them. And he says, "Mommy, I hurt myself with the scissors." No faster does the mom put the phone down than the boy collapses on the floor. When the paramedics arrive, they ask to see the scissors. They're able to measure the depth of penetration from the scissors based on where the blood stopped. It was I think two inches, and he's rushed to the hospital. And even the mother in this story looks in the camera and says, "Now I know why we were always told growing up, don't run with scissors. There's a reason for it." You know, sometimes telling our kids isn't enough. You have to show them.

I showed these stories to my kids when they were little over and over again. I want to make sure they remember to show my grandkids these stories so they don't learn these lessons the hard way. And as my kids got older, "Rescue 911" grew with them, and they were able to pick up different information as older kids compared to when they watched those same stories as younger kids.

One Day. One Bad Call.

There's a group of neighborhood kids ranging in different ages from like junior high through high school. One of them is Brad, a popular junior high-aged kid in the neighborhood. He suggests to the group of kids that he's with to go get some butane to huff. Everyone was doing it, and nobody ever got hurt. On this day, however, when these kids returned home, Brad is no more than halfway up his lawn when he suddenly collapses right there on the front lawn.

His friend says, "Hey buddy, stop joking. Hey, get up, get up." The friend is yelling, and then before he knows it, everyone's screaming and there's a big commotion. A neighbor hears the commotion, hops her fence, runs down the street. Brad is one of her favorite neighborhood kids, and she starts CPR on him. Moments later, a second bystander jumps in to help.

The ambulance arrives pretty quickly thereafter. They load him up and get him to the hospital. He's in a very critical condition when he arrives, and the doctors even state in the episode that situations like this are very frustrating because this kind of thing is totally preventable. And he continues by saying, "Here's a healthy, vibrant young man who still has his whole life ahead of him. And he put himself in this position intentionally with one bad decision." His parents are standing vigil at his bedside, but whether Brad made it home is something you'll have to watch to find out.

Now I'm going to introduce you to Brandon and his story is about one bad decision that cost him two years of his life.

The Night that Changed Everything

Brandon is seventeen at a party with friends. Little does he know this night will change his life forever. They're all drinking, having a good time, and then when it's time to go home, you know the drill. Everyone thinks they're fine. He's driving all of his friends home, and you see his head just doze and his eyes closed. He veers into the oncoming traffic lane. He corrects his car. It wakes everybody up. Thankfully, he gets his friend's home and then he gets to his best friend's house, drops him off, fine. This was about five miles away from Brandon's home, and he gets back on the road. You see his head completely drop down. Next thing we know, his car smashes right into a tree.

The paramedics arrive, the police, they're extracting Brandon out of the car, when his best friend comes across the scene himself and recognizes Brandon's license plate. So his friend turns around, goes home, and calls Brandon's parents.

His parents rush to the emergency room. He's in a coma. There were no changes over the next several weeks, and the hospital decided to transfer Brandon to a rehabilitation center where he remained in a coma for a few more weeks. And when he awoke, you know, he couldn't speak or walk and was just laying there.

And what I love most about this story, like so many other "Rescue 911" stories, is you actually get to see real footage that his family took of Brandon in the rehab center waking up and having to relearn everything. He had to relearn how to swallow, how to walk, talk, and do everything all over again.

The Words that Stuck for 30 Years

The show actually shows him speaking to a group of high schoolers, and he opens it with saying, "I was an athlete. I had a girlfriend, a car. I had the whole world at my feet until one bad decision." You see the teenagers listening to him and he does not sugarcoat the story. He tells them exactly what happened. And the one line Brandon says has stuck with me for thirty years. Is he says, "You have to take responsibility for the choices you make." He's talking to your teenager through the lens of the camera.

The Lighter Side of "Rescue 911"

Not every "Rescue 911" story is heavy. Some of our favorites include a mom that got stuck in the bathroom and had to call the fire department to get her out while she's in her towel. Another about a little boy that thinks Thomas the Train is talking to him and ends up saving another child. Our favorite Christmas episode about a crook that decided it was a good idea to play Santa Claus and ends up getting stuck in the chimney and a little girl who ends up getting her foot caught in the toilet. There's a wonderful, compassionate story about some girls that called the wrong number and ended up saving a stranger's life and created a new, lasting friendship. I will link a ton more stories for you to check out in the extended show notes at wholesometvpicks.com. There isn't a better family TV series to sit down and watch with your children.

If this episode helped you even a little, would you share it with just one person? A friend, a sister, brother, another parent in your life who's trying to do the same thing that you are? Hit that share button right now.

Next Week You Won't Stop at One

Next week a show. So good. It will make you stop and ask, why don't they make TV like this anymore? Fair warning, you will not be able to stop at episode one or season one, so don't say I didn't tell you. Thanks for listening. Have a great rest of your week.

Remember, your values matter and your TV should too. I'll catch you next week. Take care.