August 10, 2006
Rescue Me
George made me watch this show because he assured me it was excellent. The first time I watched FX's Rescue Me, I thought it was okay. The second time I found it interesting, the third time engaging and now I'm hooked. It's all Dennis Leary, too (who's up for an emmy for his work on the show by the way). You'd think a show about New York firefighters in a post 9-11 scenario would be, shall we say, cliche and soap opera dramatic. And it would be if Dennis Leary didn't play the main character, a full fledged alcoholic, philandering asshole who somehow manages to be endearing while at the same time being homophobic, racist, irresponsible and a general jerkoff. While there are some 9-11 references, the show has moved well away from sentimentality over the incident and focuses on the current lives of the group of firefighters in the house. There is occasionally some hero type stuff running into burning buildings and such, but it is immediately tempered with a fist fight, a cheating husband or a tall bottle of Jack. These guys may be doing heroic acts on a daily basis, but they make up for it at by really fucking things up at home.