For those ignorant to the powerhouse cable show called “Rescue Me,” may your houses be adorned with immense shame.
The show focuses on a crew of New York firefighters that are forced to deal with the trauma of September 11th in both their professional and personal lives.
The crew is held together and lead by Tommy Gavin (Boston comedian Denis Leary in his Emmy and Golden Globe accredited performance) whose extreme self-destruction and manipulation has isolated him from his equally ill-tempered Irish Catholic family and close crew members in the fire house. Despite his weak attempts to reconcile, the show has been chronicling his constant and intense downward spiraling since 2004.
Such examples of the past seasons’ troubles include: the death of his young son, being visited by the ghosts of people he couldn’t save in fires, cheating on his wife with his cousin’s widow, battling his addiction to alcohol and pills, and many others.
The show has recently begun its fifth season. It’s sometimes hard to jump into a series this late in the game. However, “Rescue Me” is easily watchable, addictive, and hilarious enough to hook anyone. Racist, misogynistic, sarcastic and obscene humor is what makes the show not only popular but wildly successful. “Rescue Me” is violently worshiped by critics and fans for these traits and the constant comedic drama that surrounds all the colorful characters.
I should also call attention to Michael J. Fox making his first television appearance on the show since his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (besides his one-episode guest role on Scrubs). He will remain on the show for the rest of the season playing Dwight, a wheelchair-bound cussing maniac who is hooking up with Gavin’s estranged wife. Judging from the first episode, when he and Gavin got into a fist fight and Dwight comments on his sporadic erection troubles, it is going to be a great season.
It is one of the few realistic, tension-filled, male soap opera that has really ever been on television. “Rescue Me” boasts a strong cast of characters, mostly raunchy comedians or Boston-based icons that Leary has been associated with over the years (Lenny Clark, Patriot’s coach Bill Belichick, and many Bruins hockey players).
All star guest appearances are well noted and often turn into considerable lengthy roles (Tatum O’Neal and Susan Sarandon who was a wealthy cougar that stole children on the side).
“Rescue Me” depicts how vital firefighters are to society, how difficult their job is, and the overall inner workings of a male-dominated lady-chasing firehouse. More importantly though, it is by far the most hilarious and touching series I have ever seen.
“Rescue Me” is on every Tuesday at ten o’clock on FX. An encore episode follows in case you missed anything.