Rescue Me

[novella]

I started watching this sporadically a while ago. It practically hurts to watch it.

I love Dennis Leary in this. It's his best work for sure. Leary and the other writers are definitely opening up some wounds to write it.

 

[Ell]

I like Dennis Leary and his style of humour. I've seen this on the schedule, but never tuned in. What's it about? Is it a comedy, drama or the newly-popular dramedy?

ell

 

[novella]

He plays a firefighter and wrote a lot of the show himself. Denis obviously knows the turf--I think he grew up in some gritty part of Boston surrounded by cops and firemen. It's part soap, part drama, with a lot of black humor, some tragedy, and a healthy dose of weirdness.

 

[Ell]

Sounds like something I'd like.

Will have to give it a try between hockey games - Leary is a big hockey fan, so it seems kind of appropriate.

 

[scooter13]

I love Leary, too. And I love hockey. Remember those commercials with Gretzky, saying he was leading the pass too far?

Anyway, good to hear some praise for this show. I have yet to see it, but hadn't heard any word on whether it was good or not. Gonna have to rent this and see what it's about.

 

[Zolipara]

I have been watching this one too. Dennis Leary does a very good job in this show. One of the best i have seen in recent years.

 

[leckert]

I liked Leary's stand-up. I have seen a couple episodes of this, and am constantly amazed at what they get away with on basic cable. Definitely not one for the kiddies!

Good show, and I am glad they haven't PC'd it to death. I'm glad there is still some "Adult" programming available without paying for the premium cable channels.

Very gripping, I just can't seem to remember when it is on all the time.

 

[mehastings]

I love Dennis Leary. I've seen him live and I've been to three of the Firefighters games held annually in Boston.

However, I hate this show. I am not sure what it is that bothers me. Perhaps it's the fact that it is a little too realistic when it comes to showing the personal lives of public safety personel. Perhaps it's the fact that this show practically condones the way women are marginalized (both as insiders and outsiders) in public safety. Eventually I'll figure it out. I have to watch it everyother week at work as two of my co-workers love it.

 

[leckert]

I love Dennis Leary. I've seen him live and I've been to three of the Firefighters games held annually in Boston.

However, I hate this show. I am not sure what it is that bothers me. Perhaps it's the fact that it is a little too realistic when it comes to showing the personal lives of public safety personel. Perhaps it's the fact that this show practically condones the way women are marginalized (both as insiders and outsiders) in public safety. Eventually I'll figure it out. I have to watch it everyother week at work as two of my co-workers love it.

I have been interested in how someone in the field would react to the show. I take from your comments they are pretty close to the mark?

I also notice you are a moderator?

Have you always been so?

Congratulations?

 

[Kookamoor]

This is a really interesting discussion, particularly because some of the most intelligent forum members are commenting on it and putting into words some of the things I feel about this show. I still haven't decided if I like it or not. It's compelling, but almost makes me turn away with its rawness. The way that women are portrayed is questionable, but is it accurate? Certainly not among my colleagues, but I don't doubt that there is a certain portion of society for whom this rings too true.

 

[mehastings]

I have been interested in how someone in the field would react to the show. I take from your comments they are pretty close to the mark?

Well, in some ways they are close. In other ways they aren't. None of the things they portray are blatantly "made up", it's just that they get really in depth into problems that aren't as wide spread as they make it seem. This show does just about nothing to put forth anything positive, but will go overboard to romanticize the fire service's problems with dysfunctional/abusive relationships, substance abuse and mental illness. I understand that the point of this show is to portray firefighters in a more "realistic" light than previous shows like Third Watch. However, I think what they do is take the one total jerk out of every thousand firefighters and study his one weakness/problem. Then, they foist all these problems on the few characters in this show.

In some places women aren't welcome in public safety as employees (particularly in the fire service) and are treated as objects and posessions outside of work. This is an antiquated attitude and it has been proven that women firefighters have specific advantages. For example, I can fit my body in a lot of spaces men can't and it's a lot easier to boost me into a window than it is to boost a 250lb man. However, this show almost glorifies the chauvanistic attitude and makes it seem acceptable because the characters "have it tough".

Granted, the place I work is very different from New York. We probably have fewer full-time Firefighters in the entire county than they have in just one house. I'm also not full-time in the fire service. I work full-time for a private ambulance service, and work as an on call firefighter/EMT in my spare time. However, I interact regularly with our county's full-time firefighters and I'm friendly with some others from neighboring counties (including those working in large cities). I've yet to find a full-time firefighter who behaves the way these characters do. Most of them work twice as hard as the average adult to make things work with their wives/husbands/kids in spite of missed dinners, ballgames, holidays and birthdays.

I also notice you are a moderator? Have you always been so? Congratulations?

Yes. No. Thanks.

 

[mehastings]

I think he grew up in some gritty part of Boston surrounded by cops and firemen.

This is a misconception that Leary has sortof helped to perpetuate. He's actually from a middle class family in Worcester MA. A cousin and a childhood friend were two of the six firefighters, often referred to as The Worcester Six, killed at the Worcester Cold Storage Fire in 1999. Leary has since created the Leary Firefighter's Foundation which has donated funds to Boston Fire, Worcester Fire and FDNY. He's become involved with all three of these departments, but that's the majority of his exposure.