Denis Leary, Rescue Me
WARNING: The following story contains information regarding the Season 5 finale of Rescue Me.
Rescue Me wrapped up its superb fifth season by leaving one major character in dire need of rescue.
Of course, the "will they live or die?" cliff-hanger is a go-to for many showrunners when it comes to season finales, but few threaten to kill off ...
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Denis Leary, Rescue Me
The men of Rescue Me's 62 Truck will answer their last alarm ever in 2011, the year that marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that inspired the show, the show's co-creator and executive producer exclusively tells TVGuide.com.
"Within the next couple of weeks, we're going to begin shooting the last 19 episodes, which will be the final two seasons of the show," Peter Tolan said.
Rescue Me's focus has always been on New York City firefighters and the post-9/11 trauma they face. That focus was renewed this season, as one fireman ...
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Steven Pasquale
Don't worry, we cringed too when Steven Pasquale burst into song in the latest episode of Rescue Me.
But once the shock wore off — and we realized that Pasquale could still make Sean Garrity hilariously stupid while singing — it became apparent that creators Denis Leary and Peter Tolan had put some thought into the song-and-dance routines. (That's right, routines; there are more to come.)
"Those would be my fault," Tolan told TVGuide.com. "We were sort of looking for a way to showcase Steve's singing, and this seemed like the most natural way — these fantasies while he was being prepped for surgery or after. The good thing is they're all on story. The first one is more naturalistic — there's sort of an MTV feel to the second half of it, but it feels a little more grounded. Then they just spin out of control."
Pasquale has a history with ...
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Denis Leary, Rescue Me
There's something different about Rescue Me this season that we can't quite put a finger on.
Maybe it's the complete creative rejuvenation of the show after a long, 18-month hiatus. Maybe it's the addition of the shockingly grotesque, wheelchair-bound Dwight, played brilliantly against type by guest star Michael J. Fox. Maybe it's that the show returned its focus to 9/11 and its lasting effects on the firefighters. Or maybe it's just because Season 4's look at a sober Tommy Gavin was a bit of a stinker.
If you ask Rescue Me's creators, they'll agree with most of all of that.
"We work in a vacuum," star and co-creator Denis Leary says. "It's impossible to tell what the audience or critics will think. Last season, we investigated places that we had to go, specifically with Tommy being sober. But it's not until it's out there that you get the reaction where people go, 'Y'know, it's really dark.'"
But dark isn't the word co-creator, writer and director Peter Tolan would use to describe Season 4. His word? Letdown. "The fourth season had its pleasures, but it was certainly not up to snuff, in my opinion, with what we had done in the previous years," he says. "We just sort of lost focus, the stories weren't as solid, and the storytelling, I thought, was a little weak. And many people noticed it. Because of that, I said to the guys that when we come back, we have to come back firing on all cylinders — we have to come back at 150 miles per hour and not stop."
And that's what they've done. This season ...
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Brittany Snow and Matthew Broderick, Finding Amanda. Inset: writer/director Peter Tolan
Did you hear the one about the compulsive-gambling TV writer who ventures to Vegas (of all temptations!) to rescue the hooker with a heart of gold? Sneaking into theaters this weekend, Finding Amanda stars Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, as said sad screenwriter, with American Dreams girl Brittany Snow playing his casino-walking niece. Rescue Me cocreator Peter Tolan, who wrote and directed the indie comedy, shares the origin of this unorthodox tale. Plus: How he himself won big with a Belmont Stakes gamble!
TVGuide.com: So you've got the prostitute, the trip to Las Vegas, the struggling TV writer... How did those ideas come together? Where's the germ of truth here?Peter Tolan: I'm luckily not a struggling TV writer, but my wife had gotten a call from a family friend whose child was in trouble in Vega
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Matthew Perry by Jim Spellman/ WireImage.com
Matthew Perry and veteran producer Peter Tolan (Rescue Me, The Larry Sanders Show) are teaming to produce The End of Steve, a Showtime pilot in which TV's onetime Friend will star. As reported by Variety, Perry will play the host of a local talk show who, thoroughly embittered whenever the cameras are off, strives to find professional and personal happiness — including but not limited to romance with the station's morning show host.Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt, who has been trying to develop a project with Tolan for two decades, calls this opportunity "a twisted match made in heaven." — Matt MitovichMore pilot news:• Emancipation for Wilmer Valderrama
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Tatum O'Neal by Michael Wong/FX
Despite her recent skirmish with the law, Tatum O'Neal is expected back at work at FX's Rescue Me the next instance she is needed. "We want to bring her back, and I haven't heard anything about why she wouldn't be available to us," series cocreator Peter Tolan told me during a sitdown to promote the indie Finding Amanda, which he wrote and directed. "It's a misdemeanor, so she's not going to do time, and nobody has said to us we can't insure her or anything like that. So I'm assuming she's available to us and it's 'business as usual.'"O'Neal's publicist confirms that she is back at the grindstone, ready for more Rescue Me as well as promoting the Lifetime movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal. At the time of her June 1 arrest (on charges of possession of a controlled substance), O'Neal had filmed two episodes for Rescue Me's fifth season (arriving in spring 2009). Seeing as her and Tommy's father passed on when last we tuned in, her services certainly will be needed. Says To...
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Rescue Me
With his rebellious daughter coming of age, his depressed wife rearing a baby that likely isn’t his, and suspicious investigators quizzing him about the cause of the beach-house blaze, Denis Leary’s Tommy Gavin has a lot of irons in the fire on this season’s Rescue Me (Wednesdays at 10 pm/ET, on FX). Tonight, Sheila (played by Callie Thorne) fills him in on the “facts” of the fire — which include a supposedly drunken Tommy.
“He has this nagging self-doubt about his sobriety,” previews series cocreator Peter Tolan. “And [the fire] is another case of being with Sheila and having one of these blackouts.”
In addition to cowriting and executive-produc
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Question: I have a laundry list of questions about summer viewing: Is Life on Mars going to have a second season, or was it a one-off? (I'm scared to death of the American remake — I'm expecting Starsky & Hutch.) I was disappointed to hear about the bad ratings of Brotherhood — it's too good to be ignored. If there is no second season, will we be left hanging, or does the first series come to some sort of resolution? I know it's early, but what is the likelihood of Vanished making it through the season? Is Fox willing to take a chance based on the success of 24 and Prison Break, or will this be another Firefly/Wonderfalls/Reunion? Finally, what is your reaction to Denis Leary getting an Emmy nomination for acting but not one for writing? As good as he is as Tommy Gavin, his and Peter Tolan's scripts are the heart of that series. How could the writing be ignored?
Answer: There is a second series of Life on Mars, but no word on when BBC America will present
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Question: I am writing in response to a letter posted in your 6/26 column concerning Rescue Me. While I found Tommy's attack on Janet upsetting, I also feel you have to remember everything that Tommy has gone through recently: his son's death rite, his wife blaming him for it, his own brother sleeping with his wife, his father's declining health and his own attempts to stay off booze and cigarettes. While I am not saying this is an excuse, I am simply pointing out that the man has hit his breaking point and temporarily lost it. Rape is not about sex but about control. His life is absolutely out of control, and this was not something that he had planned out. It happened out of blind rage. As for the grin when he drove away, I think that was meant for his brother, which was tacky, but I think his feelings were very testosterone-driven and an in-your-face, "I did Janet while she was with you" sort of thing. Yes, Tommy is very hard to take at times, but there is a good person at the core, ...
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