FOX’s 9-1-1 is an exciting procedural drama that follows the lives of 9-1-1 operators and first-responders—police, firefighters, and paramedics—in Los Angeles as they respond to some of the most dangerous (and often bizarre) situations on the job, as well as the own personal issues in their home lives. The series comes from creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear (American Horror Story), who once again work their magic to give viewers a unique and compelling drama.

Abby Clark (Connie Britton) is a 9-1-1 operator, and the entry point for the emergency situations that arise. There is only so much she can do to help those in trouble over the phone, but she does her best to gather information and help calm them down until the help can arrive. At home, Abby has issues of her own. Her mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and so Abby spends most of her free time taking care of her mom—she hasn’t been on a date, or had a boyfriend in over a year. When she receives a 9-1-1 call, her first contact is usually the L.A. Fire and Rescue team, headed up by Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause). Nash is a recovering alcoholic who returned to the job 18 months earlier after taking some time off. He cares for his team, but tends to keep his family life private, and can be a bit short-tempered at times. One source of his frustration is the young new firefighter Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark)—a self-proclaimed sex addict who is constantly breaking the rules and “borrowing” the fire engine to impress the women. The more reliable members of his team are paramedics Howie “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi) and Henrietta “Hen” Wilson (Aisha Hinds), though each of them also have their own personal issues that sometimes bleed into the job. Chimney has a girlfriend who is out of his league, and he suspects that she is growing bored of him—she’s more drawn to the excitement of his job than to Chimney himself. And Henrietta is in a self-destructive relationship with her loving girlfriend, due to the return of her ex-wife. And speaking of destructive relationships, there’s LAPD Patrol Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), who is often called out to the same situations as the Fire and Rescue team. She and her husband Michael’s (Rockmond Dunbar) relationship starts to crumble as the series opens, when Michael makes a surprising announcement that affects the whole family.

When not dealing with their own personal/family drama, the first responders face some of the most exciting and unusual cases. The action never seems to stop—just as they finish dealing with one case, another call comes in. In the first few episodes alone, the group deals with a drowning man, a baby flushed down a toilet, some potential jumpers, teenagers being thrown from a roller-coaster, a woman being choked by her giant snake, a little girl trapped inside her home during burglary, a bouncy house full of people being blown over the edge of a cliff, and a man trapped in his kitchen as two dogs prepare to attack. Despite this non-stop action, there’s still plenty of time for the character drama. The series finds the perfect blend of the two, it never feels too slowed down by the drama, and at the same time the first responders never feel like interchangeable, one-dimensional characters just there to serve the action. Over the season, we learn more about each of the characters and see how the job affects them, both mentally and in their relationships.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, there was just one area I had a problem with. I liked the Abby character, and her role on the team, but Connie Britton is playing a character 10 years younger than herself, and I found this to be both unbelievable and a bit distracting at times. Early on, she and Buck develop a flirty, somewhat romantic relationship, and this just felt creepy a lot of the time—she is old enough to be his mother! That said, I’m not sure if this relationship would have even worked had the character been played by an actual 42-year-old. Other than this one aspect, I found the series to be quite exciting and compelling, just as much so as I re-watched the episodes for the second time.

Like other recent FOX TV-on-DVD drama releases, season one of 9-1-1 has only received a DVD release, despite the fact that the series originally aired in HD. The picture quality of the DVD looks decent, but is definitely noticeably duller and less detailed when compared to the original HD airings on FOX. The audio track is likely the same as the FOX airings, and provides clear dialogue and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to add to the excitement of the action on screen. The ten episodes of the season are split across three DVD discs, each offering a Play All option. Unfortunately, there is no bonus material included. The discs are packed in a standard DVD keepcase without a slipcover.

While the series itself comes highly recommended, I would suggest picking up the Digital HD release (available at iTunes, Vudu, Amazon, Google Play, etc.) instead of the DVD, in order to experience this excellent series in its full HD quality. I wish FOX would do what HBO does, and at least include an HD streaming version with the DVD-only releases of shows that were originally aired in HD.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (7:17:12)

• All 10 episodes of the first season:
  Disc 1: “Pilot”, “Let Go”, “Next of Kin”
  Disc 2: “Worst Day Ever”, “Point of Origin”, “Heartbreaker”, “Full Moon (Creepy AF)”
  Disc 3: “Karma’s a Bitch”, “Trapped”, “A Whole New You”
• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• No bonus material has been included

Final Thoughts:

9-1-1 is an exciting, thoroughly entertaining procedural drama that is loaded with non-stop action and interesting character drama. The DVD release comes recommended based on the high quality of the series itself. However, for those who don’t have an aversion to streaming, I would suggest picking up the Digital HD version over the DVD since the disc doesn’t include any bonus material, and this is the type of show that looks so much better in HD.