The premise of the show was based on an experimental combined emergency services station (the Harlem Eastside Life-saving Program, or HELP) in New York City that co-located the resources of the Fire Department, Police Department and Emergency Medical Services.
Although H.E.L.P. was canceled after only a brief initial season, the concept of a show involving all three branches of NYC emergency services was successfully reintroduced nine years later with the 1999 debut of Third Watch, which ran for six seasons on NBC.