Few things are more satisfying than watching a great episode of TV with an appreciative audience. Such was the case Wednesday night when FX screened the Rescue Me finale (my second viewing, but my first on the big screen) at New York's grand Ziegfeld Theater, a benefit for Denis Leary's Firefighters Foundation. Fittingly, a number of NYFD's finest were in the crowd, laughing at all the right places and cheering at many others (and maintaining a respectful silence when things got serious, which never lasted for very long).
It was a triumphant end to one of cable's most distinctive (if sometimes maddening) series, a well-timed tribute to ...
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Question: I have a question about the new season, or rather last season, of Rescue Me. Do you think that the "comedy" writing that they incorporate into the show seems to take away from critical acclaim that shows like The Shield and Justified get? The dramatic parts this year have really felt like they weren't even acting, specifically when Sheila finds Tommy snooping for the letter, and the job Maura Tierney did was spectacular. Granted, it seems more like therapy then acting. What do you think the show's legacy will be? — Glenn
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How did Rescue Me co-creator and executive producer Peter Tolan celebrate the show's final panel at the Television Critics Association fall TV previews? He dropped his pants, of course.
Rescue Me's final season: Can Tommy Gavin survive?
In typical Rescue Me fashion, the panel began as a semi-serious discussion of the show's final season and its legacy before turning crazy....
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Callie Thorne was stuck in New York City gridlock recently with her mom when she spied a familiar face. "I was like, 'Ma, Ma, look!' and I point and there's me on the back of a bus, and we both started shrieking," says the star of USA's new drama Necessary Roughness, laughing. "There was this convertible of guys next to us, and my mother goes, 'That's my daughter!' They were taking pictures and they said, 'Get out of the car!' I was like, 'I will not get out of the car!... OK, I'll get out of the car.' I'm such a loser."
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As FX's firefighter drama Rescue Me begins its final season Wednesday (10/9c), it must contend with the question that has loomed over the series like a black cloud of smoke since Episode 1: Will there come a day when reckless hero Tommy Gavin won't come out of a burning building alive?
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Of course, fire isn't his only vice. Although Tommy (Denis Leary) survived the rescue effort on 9/11, his battle with alcohol and his revolving door of women have put him a number of situations that were just as life-threatening as running into the World Trade Center. So, after six years of ghosts, sex and gallons of booze, is there any chance Tommy escapes the series with a pulse?
"Obviously, you want to make sure it's a satisfying end of the journey for the viewers," co-creator and executive producer Peter Tolan tells TVGuide.com...
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