"RESCUE ME" IS FUN
BUT NOT EXACTLY ON FIRE

June 23, 2006

New York City firefighter Tommy Gavin has problems that most people will never face in their entire lives, not to mention all piled up on each other at the same time. His wife left him after their only son is killed by a drunk driver and is now dating his brother. His uncle is in jail for murdering the drunk driver. His live-in father wets the bed almost nightly and is demanding an heir from Tommy to carry on the Gavin family name. The teenage son of his dead cousin - who he watches over - has started sleeping with his high school teacher. The teacher decides that if Tommy wants them to stop, he needs to take the kid's place. He's drinking heavily again.

Yeah, life is not without effort for Tommy Gavin, nor for most of the members of the fire department that make up his virtual family on FX's "Rescue Me," now airing its third season on Tuesday nights at 10. Things often aren't easy for the show's viewers either, as the out-there plot developments occur much too often to ever take this show all that seriously. "Rescue Me" isn't as preposterous as "Nip/Tuck," FX's top dog when it comes to bizarre goings on, but Tommy's colorful misadventures almost make the network's fabulous cop drama "The Shield" look like a documentary in comparison.

It's for this reason that I stopped watching the show towards the end of the first season in 2004 and entirely skipped year two. But with TV offering up so little that looks promising this summer, and with some of my fellow television addicts urging me to give "Rescue Me" another try, I decided to tune back in this year. What I've found is that the show I'm watching now is much the same as the show I gave up on two years ago.

Denis Leary, the show's star and primary creative force, remains wonderful as Tommy. He so effortlessly blends his trademark acerbic wit with genuine pathos that it's amazing he's not recognized more during award season. The rest of the cast is hit and miss. John Scurti is better than I remembered as Lt. Kenny "Lou" Shea, whose life is crumbling after a con artist prostitute made off with his life savings. But my ears still recoil when I hear that rapid, staccato, one-note line delivery of Daniel Sunjata, who plays Franco, the fire department's strapping lothario. Every time he talks, I fight the urge to reach for the volume button on my remote. Susan Sarandon has joined the cast this year as an older woman dating Franco, and so far she seems to be playing Annie Savoy, her "Bull Durham" character, 20 years later in life but lacking all those crackling baseball-as-sex metaphors.

The storylines are as wild as usual (and include all of the ones I listed at the beginning of this column), and there is a concern that they may already be starting to repeat. It was revealed recently that Mike (Michael Lombardi), the department's much abused "probie," may be gay - a tough lifestyle choice when your around the manly men of the FDNY. The concept, like many on the show, is played much too broadly, and similar themes were already tackled in season one when Chief Reilly (Jack McGee) had to come to terms with his son's homosexuality after savagely beating the openly-gay fireman from another crew.

Tommy doesn't seem to openly talk to his dead friends and family as he used to (a device that was used often early in the show's run) although they still visit him from time to time. I was never a fan of the ghosts-as-tortured-subconscious angle, so it's refreshing to see they've cut back on it. The series still earns big laughs every episode, but many of the more dramatic moments, like Tommy's recent, uh, "reconciliation" with his wife seem to come out of nowhere, as if the writers are busy giggling about what nonsensical predicament they can put these characters in next.

So, with the things that have changed since "Rescue Me" debuted and with those that have gone unaltered, what are we left with? A fairly entertaining series that is probably worth your time in the slow TV months of summer, for Denis Leary's wonderful performance if for nothing else. Just don't expect the one-of-the-best-shows-on-TV level of greatness that many say "Rescue Me" achieves. That claim is nothing but a bunch of hot air.