Rescue me, les héros du 11 septembre S1-S7

It's irreverent, funny, tragic, riveting. I have gasped out loud more than once while watching. Brilliant writing and acting. D. Leary is in his element and has created such a reality to his character Tommy Gavin that I can't believe Gavin isn't a real person. The only critique would be that the show does tend over do the quirkiness of some of the characters. But that is balanced by the cornerstone characters who are as lovable as they are offensive. The fast paced story lines and periodic shockers keep my heart rate pumping throughout the show. And there is always that lingering possibility that a fire is just around the corner to mix things up. I've never missed an episode and highly recommend it for adults, but watch it only after the kids are in bed :-)

What this seems to mean to most reviewers is that: 1. The show's viewpoint and characters are unrelentingly cynical and depressing. 2. There is as much bad language and bathroom humor as basic cable will allow. 3. The show looks like it was shot on 30 year old film by someone with DT's. 4. The soundtrack includes a lot of crummy heavy metal music. "Rescue Me" qualifies as an edgy show on all of these counts, which is why I struggled to get through the first episode on DVD and then put it away for good. After about 5 minutes, I could have connected the dots and written the rest of the episode. To those who commend the "realism" of the show, all I can say is that turds in a sewer are real, but I don't consider watching them great entertainment.

Just like "The Job", the first season was great then it was all downhill. By the fourth season, it was just the same thing over and over. The same arguments with Janet over and over. The same trysts with Sheila over and over. The same drinking, not drinking and AA meetings over and over. The same cheap * "humor" over and over. Even the fires were the same after a while. They ran out of ideas certainly. The musical dream sequence should have had Henry Winkler in it because it definitely jumped the shark. Quit at season three and do yourself a favor. The Job is still a better series, just stick with that then you can say you've had enough Denis Leary. It is apparent that FX didn't have enough shows to choose from so they kept this one limping. It probably would have been a better show if it was on network TV and they cut all the repetitive, low brow stuff.

I was "leary" of this show right from the get-go because Dennis Leary was in it. He has never impressed me as a serious actor to begin with, but I thought "what the hell" and watched the first one. Bad acting and over acting all the way around. Useless profanity that does not fit with the over all actions at times reminds me of young teenagers cussing just to impress each other. My son is a fire fighter and changed the channel after the first 15 minutes. If the first show is any indication of what is to come, I would guess to say that the future audience will be trailer trash and low I.Q. individuals. Just my opinion.

What really floored me with "Rescue Me" was how well the ensemble of male actors worked together. Usually for a first series, it takes time for the characters to sort themselves out, but here was a show that, from the get-go, gave you the feeling that these guys had been working together for five seasons! Usually, the typical camaraderie among male actors on TV and in the movies seems artificial by comparison. Here, it is as real as it gets. Also, there are no clones on this set: each character is unique. Kudos to the casting directors! "Rescue Me" blends humor, drama, action, and real pathos with male characters that are not afraid to show their vulnerable sides. Everyone in the firehouse reminds me of someone I knew personally, so maybe it is easier for me to care about them. The season finale was reminiscent of The Shield's first season finale where Mackey's wife, Corrine, also left him at the end. The ending brought closure to the questions I had about why Tommy's wife needed all that money from him -- she used it for a down payment on a house. How she was able to pull up stakes so fast without alerting Tommy will be interesting to see next season.

As a career firefighter, I had hoped that the show would be one my children could enjoy and the public which puts us on a pedestal after 9/11 would enjoy. Instead I had to turn it off during the opening scene due to the language use. If this is the daily language use in the FDNY stations and how they wish to be portrayed to their own loving families and the public, then shame on them. I even went back twice to the show after the children had left the room but the content continued to be a poor portrayal of the majority of firefighters in America and the world. I turned it off for the last time when the actor was paying his children for information. I will never turn it on. The show will definitely destroy a lot of public trust in us. Thanks a lot!!!!

After a failed attempt at a drama/comedy show that involves cops, Denis Leary came up with the idea of a series about firefighters in the aftermath of 9/11. The success of it was pretty inevitable with so many American hearts still beating for the everyday heroes who gave or risked their lives that momentous day in New York. Thankfully, "Rescue Me" stays away from mindless patriotism for the most part. Mind you, there are enough lofty speeches about 9/11 and its consequences but as the show moves on, it really turns to the individual lives of its characters instead of being overly political. The concept of the show is to give a "realistic" look at firefighters without selling them as immaculate heroes. In fact, they have more than their share of serious problems. Season 1 begins relatively cold. All characters appear to be machos, bashing gays, each other and everyone around them. I'm not one who asks for political correctness in television shows, but one really starts to wonder after a while if some of the dialog and action isn't promoting some rather narrow-minded views. Especially, Leary who is also co-writing "Rescue Me" appears once again as the "angry, gun toading, meat eating" man, as he once said in his stand up-routine "No Cure For Cancer". His character, Tommy Gavin, walks around the city beating up everybody who insults him. He drinks, takes pills and commits all sorts of crimes. When he has problems he doesn't talk about them. When a relative dies he doesn't cry until the tears just burst out of him once and then that's that with his grief. Maybe that's only a stage persona, a part of his act, but one can't shake the feeling that Leary thinks there's a certain coolness and something very manly about this kind of behavior. At least he designed every guy in the show who isn't gay by that pattern. Sure, there are other more reasonable characters, too and the firefighters are not meant to be doing okay, but there's still a sense of manly honor in the way their actions are portrayed. Like they are trying to do the right thing but something always gets in their way and foils their plans. Religion and supernatural things play a pretty important role in "Rescue Me". Tommy is often visited by the ghosts of his dead cousin Jimmy and some of the victims he couldn't save, as well as Jesus. It's never quite sure whether these visions are only in Tommy's head, representing the way he deals with his feelings of guilt or if there's more to that. In any case, those moments are often rather annoying and should have been cut out, especially Tommy's awkward conversations with Jesus. On the plus side, the show is really entertaining and fun to watch. There are a lot of different story lines and something is happening all the time. By the second half of season 2 something tragic is occurring every ten minutes to a point where it's getting ridiculous. As soon as one character is almost happy that's taken away from him again. If life was really that bleak most people would commit suicide and you couldn't even blame them for it. The writers just tried to keep the audience interested but it's all too hurried, too shallow and just too much. If the show continues like that in season 3 it's going to be a travesty soon. So far, though, "Rescue Me" has been a diverting, old-fashioned drama series with funny moments and a good cast. Just don't expect anything too deep.

I started watching this cause of denis leary,and cause everyone talked about it. A side from a few funny moments here and there this really was a crap show. They never put out fires either. You see them walking into burning buildings to rescue people,but they never really put out the fire. An the fires are just usually so small they could be put out with a bucket of water. I dunno bout you, but if I'm in a burning building with debris falling from the roof,I wouldn't take of my helmet. But these guys do it all the time, while burning debris raining all around them.To me, that seemed unrealistic. I also think this would be a low key show, if it wasn't for denis leary constantly making connection to the firefighters who lost their life on ground zero. Tu summarize the story of the show Drinking,complaining,screwing,cheating,more drinking,and maybe some walk in a burning building just so you don't fall a sleep

I watched the first episode and that was enough. I've never liked the main actor and this just confirmed why. The conversation seems like it was written for 15 year old boys, very immature. It's sad to see that I am in the minority here when there is so much profanity and degrading comments towards women...

The single most shocking thing about this series is that it wasn't canned immediately after the pilot was made. The acting and script are atrocious. I tried to watch the first episode and just couldn't put myself through it. Machismo to the point of misogyny this show is just offensive. I cannot believe the positive reviews it is receiving here. The only emotion showed is brooding, seething anger. Gross! This is also attempted to be shown in light of desired masculinity but nothing could be more off-putting! I have, thankfully, never met a person like any of the horrid characters in this poor excuse for television. How did this even get made?