REVIEW | 'Rescue Me' is an intense drama until laugh riots break out, making it the top show on TV's best channel

June 13, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic

HBO is great, bla bla bla. That's what everybody still says, even though HBO shows aren't great anymore (except for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Da Ali G Show"-- if they ever return). And now "The Sopranos" is gone.

No, the real HBO (or what it used to be) is FX.

Many of you readers don't even know what FX is. Well, I'm here to tell you it is on the cheap end of cable (channel 24 for me). And FX is the best network on all of TV. Better than NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, HBO, Showtime and the rest.

FX screens only a handful of original series, none of them bad. There's "Nip/Tuck" (the sex-obsessed doctor show); "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (a very funny, crass comedy); "Dirt" (a Courteney Cox tabloid drama).

And the best of the FX bunch is "Rescue Me," which starts a fourth season tonight. Based on the first three new episodes, I can continue to put "Rescue Me" on my list as one of the best 20 shows that have ever been on TV.

If you've never seen "Rescue Me" before, don't sweat it. The writing, directing and acting are so crisp and moment-by-moment specific, you can watch tonight's episode, get sucked in and never feel confused. I think.

The show -- about friendly, funny firefighters and their lovers -- begins with my favorite episode yet. Tommy (Denis Leary) is being investigated for arson because his angry girlfriend drugged him and set their beach house on fire.

He's also upset with his 18-year-old daughter because she has ditched her lesbian phase ("girls are crazy," she explains), and now she's sleeping with -- oh no! -- a guy.

"Let me tell you something," Tommy sputters while grasping for life to make sense, as always. "Girls might be crazy, but girls are crazy ALL THE TIME. They're DEPENDABLE."

Then the daughter throws up, and Tommy's younger daughter walks in, detects the odor of vomit, and -- since Tommy's a recovering alcoholic -- she says, "It smells like Christmas out here!"

I copied many other funny lines in my notes, but I don't want to keep spoiling the whole thing, except for a line in the third episode when a female firefighter explains how she carried a tall man out of a fire:

"You know, with the adrenaline pumping and everything, I could've carried out Jennifer Hudson. Holding her Oscar. And a sandwich."

"Rescue Me" is really tactless like that. But it's so good. For most of the first episode, I laugh and laugh. Then suddenly, a fire breaks out and the whole main cast becomes amazingly in danger of dying, and it is intense.

In typical "Rescue Me" style, co-creator Peter Tolan's direction switches from perfect comedy to perfect drama, capped by moments of pretty cinematography. (The shot of the blaze with the cat ears in silhouette? Gorgeous.)

Tolan and Leary co-write much of the show. I have no idea why they haven't won an Emmy or a Golden Globe by now. Oh, right, awards shows are stupid.

Tolan and Leary consistently test their characters with realistic storylines (dying parents, new babies, fires, adultery) but infuse them with offbeat situations (a firefighter tapping a nun, etc.). And the unvarnished characters engage in the most fascinating and comical conversations.

What I'm saying is you might just love this show if you try it. You might also conclude it is better than everything on HBO, ABC and CBS. It would take you one hour to find out.