Code Red was an American drama series starring Lorne Greene that ran for one season (1981–82) on ABC and was the last TV series produced by Irwin Allen.
The series focuses on Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Rorchek, his family and the staff of Station One under his command. Two of his eldest sons, Ted and Chris serve as firefighters under their father's direct command as well as Haley Green, the first female firefighter of the LAFD.
In addition, Joe has a much younger adopted son named Danny Rich who has privileged access to his family's professional activities as a seriously young member of the Firefighter Explorers. He's an impulsive kid, but with a cool head in emergencies.
The series was essentially a modern day combination of Bonanza and Emergency! Alas, the relatively expensive series was a sacrificial lamb counterprogramming attempt at being scheduled against CBS' 60 Minutes.
Code Red provides examples of the following tropes:
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Each episode ended with a short tip on first aid or fire safety.
- Artistic License – Education: Danny, who aged is 10-12 at most, is way too young to be a Firefighter Explorer, which has a typical age range of 15 to 21.
- Author Tract: The episode, "Fireworks" has the firefighter characters giving a lecture about the dangers of the careless use of fireworks.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Danny risks his life and almost loses it in crawling through a Air-Vent Passageway to shut off a vent to a hospital's operating room and has to be rescued, Chief Joe Rorchek punishes him by making him prepare a speech to give to various school classes about what a dumb reckless thing he did.
- Emergency Services: Fire Department.
- Fatal Fireworks: In the episode, "Fireworks," a teenage street dealer in illegal fireworks causes havoc in the city, including accidentally starting a structure fire that Chief Rorchek's battalion has to deal with. Later, Joe has to reprimand Danny for fooling around with sparklers, the firefighters give a presentation describing how dangerous the careless use of fireworks is and Danny has to help a friend who is severely burned when a firecracker explodes in his hand.
- Emergency Squad Scramble: Station One has a loud and harsh pulsing tone to signal a dispatch.
- Father to His Men: Figuratively to most of his unit and literally concerning Ted and Chis.
- No OSHA Compliance: In "The Land of Make-Believe," Joe's unit does a fire inspection of a movie lot and it fails miserably, revealing itself to be a fire trap. However, while Ted does threaten to shut the lot down, the director simply ignores the inspection and Chief Rorchek simply shuffles the matter to the Fire Safety Department. Sure enough, the story climaxes with a massive fire breaking out during shooting.
- Rescue: All in a days work for Rorchek's crew and family.
- Smurfette Principle: Haley Green is the first female firefighter in the LAFD, and the pilot had a subplot of her having to prove herself to her skeptical male colleagues, although Ted and Chris were supportive of her. However, the only other female principal character is Ann Rorchek, Joe's civilian wife.
