Vital Signs (television) One-hour dramatic medical reality series, showcasing doctors who race against time to solve baffling medical mysteries. The stories were told in the first person by physicians, and were accompanied by reenactments of the events. Debuted on ABC on February 27, 1997, and ended on July 3, 1997. Host was Robert Urich. The reenactments were shot in an actual, though recently closed, hospital–the Tustin Medical Center in California.