Television's ambulance shows do battle each week

While they are technically showing reality, they tend not to be tagged "reality TV" - because that's reserved for shows where drama is manufactured.

Therefore it's not reality as all.

But I digress. These shows - which include following highway patrol officers, police carrying out breath tests, Customs rifling through people's baggage, lifeguards patrolling beaches - get called "factual" programming.

Which, I guess, is accurate, if not a bit dull.

Anyway, the networks seem to love these shows because they're relatively cheap to make - there are no scripts to write, no actors to hire.

Some don't even need camera crews as they just mount a bunch of tiny cameras throughout the vehicle and on the person to get the bulk of their images.

So it's no surprise to find two networks screening what is essentially the same show.

These shows would be Ambulance Australia (WIN, 7.30pm, Thursdays) and Paramedics (Nine, 9pm, Tuesdays).

Both shows follow ambulance paramedics on their rounds, hoping they'll be called out to some shocking, gruesome or dramatic case.

Which now makes me wonder if the ambulance call centre deliberately sends the TV paramedics to the worst cases, to get something good for the show - I hope not.

Despite the two shows being similar in concept, Paramedics is easily the better of the two.

That show spends much less time in the call centre than Ambulance Australia - and I think we can agree the drama happens out on the road and not in the call centre.

Also, Paramedics has made a better fist of "casting"; picking the right teams to follow.

I just feel that they seem more relaxed and personable than their counterparts on Ambulance Australia.

The biggest difference between the shows is that Paramedics interviews the patients at the end of each episode.

These are often the most dramatic moments in the entire show; as people start to talk their emotions can overwhelm them as they remember just how close they could have come to dying.