Amid coronavirus, Sacramento no longer filming controversial reality TV show ‘Live Rescue’
Reality television crews from the controversial show “Live Rescue” are no longer filming Sacramento firefighters respond to calls — for now.
The A&E network show ceased filming in Sacramento on March 14, when all production stopped due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, Capt. Keith Wade, fire department spokesman, said in an email.
The city’s contract with New York production company Big Fish Entertainment was set to expire March 18, 2020, but with an option to renew it through March 18, 2021.
“The Fire Department has not signed on for a third season nor have we been contacted by Big Fish asking if we are interested,” Wade said in an email Wednesday.
The producers had previously expressed interest in continuing to film in Sacramento for a third season, Fire Chief Gary Loesch told The Sacramento Bee in January.
The show started filming in Sacramento in April 2019 without a City Council vote for approval, The Bee reported Feb. 3. Because the show was not costing the city any money, city code did not require a council vote. In the article, privacy experts criticized the show for making entertainment out of residents on their worst days, especially people of color and those living in poverty. The fire department defended the show as a good tool for recruitment and transparency, and said they had received no complaints.
The next day, Councilman Steve Hansen said he wanted the city to stop participating in the show. Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he wanted Loesch, who gets prior review of the footage, to nix any clips that could be viewed as “exploitative or embarrassing to a person in distress.”
It’s unclear if any changes were made following those requests.
“No new policies regarding the City’s participation on TV shows have been developed at this time,” city spokesman Tim Swanson said in an email Friday.
However, the show’s website and its YouTube channel do not include any clips from Sacramento since Feb. 3, the day The Bee’s article was published. The show’s Twitter account posted clips from Sacramento since that date, but none featuring residents who are intoxicated or homeless.
A clip posted March 9 featured Sacramento firefighters rescuing a cat from a tree and playing basketball with kids. No clips filmed in Sacramento have appeared on the Twitter page since.
