TVSquad

Denis Leary and Peter Tolan are busy men. As the two executive producers behind FX's phenomenal drama Rescue Me, the two have had their plate full ever since the WGA strike ended. For those that haven't heard, Rescue Me was renewed for a network-length 22 episode season scheduled to air in spring 2009. I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Leary and Tolan earlier today and both pointed out that this is an entirely different animal since they're used to producing 13 episode seasons. Leary was quick to make a sports analogy: they pretty much have been working on season five since last year's football season and they probably won't wrap until next year's basketball playoffs. He also made an alcohol analogy: it's like they're in TV rehab. Coming from the guy who plays Tommy Gavin, I'd say that's fairly appropriate.

Of course, the entire point of the call was to discuss the upcoming string of Rescue Me minisodes set to premiere on FX this coming Tuesday, June 24th. So here's what I can tell you about them now:

• I've seen the first three, and much like the comedy short they produced a few years ago, they are funny as hell. However, Leary made it clear that won't necessarily be the case for all for all of them. He said that while black humor is organic to any firehouse, that's not all there is to it. So we should expect some of the new shorts to have a more serious tone.
• If you miss the episodes on TV, don't worry - they'll be available on Crackle.com the day after they air.
• That being said, there will be some tie-in to past events (the second minisode deals briefly with Tommy's drinking issues) and even though all ten haven't been shot yet (they're working on them in between season five episodes as the schedule allows), Leary and Tolan said to not rule out the possibility that one of them may set up something for season five.
• FX President John Landgraf came up with the idea of the minisodes since the show would have been off the air for almost a year and a half.

And... that's pretty much all there is to say about the minisodes. Myself and everyone else on the call figured that out fast though as questions quickly shifted to the new season. Here are the highlights, but be warned as some of it may be a little spoiler-ish:

• All of season five's 22 episodes will air uninterrupted. I suppose that could change between now and 2009, but for now, it looks like it'll just be billed as season five and not seasons five & six.
• Leary and Tolan both said that the first six episodes of the new season are hands down some of the best written stuff the show has ever had and that they're definitely worth the wait. Leary also said that they seem to write better whenever the Red Sox are playing well. Call me crazy then, but I hope that isn't true because the whole American League East has been sort of mediocre so far this season...
• The season five premiere has the most amazing fire scene they've done to date.
• Charles Durning will be back! Tommy's dad is indeed dead, but they're planning a scene (ala The Iceman Cometh) in which Tommy will be visited at a bar by all of his ghosts. That leaves the window open for Jerry too. Leary did say that he and Jack McGee had patched things up.
• Regarding Tommy's dad's passing, I asked about Timo and Rosemary - the lost Gavin siblings. Are they ever gonna come back? Leary responded that it's a big Irish family and Tolan said that they just ended up focusing instead on Maggie and Johnny. Which I suppose makes sense. There are a lot of characters on the show and you've can't stick with them all unfortunately.
• Leary and Tolan said they do have plans for how the series will end. They even went as far as saying they were committed to it and they were fairly certain that something like it hadn't been done before. Some characters will get happy endings. Tolan said they can't be mean forever.
• No worries about Tatum O'Neal either. She'll be featured in plenty of episodes in the new season.
• As far as guest stars, they confirmed that Karina Lombard (The L Word) would play a French journalist writing a book on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I'm sure that'll go over well with Tommy.
• There is one other guest star they wouldn't name. Tolan did say this: he's hoping the role will garner an Emmy nod for actor (actress?) in a guest role. Sounds like a good one then.

That's all I got! Read the season five stuff slowly though because we won't know if any of it comes true until around this time next year. Also, check back here on Tuesday nights. I'll be reviewing the minisodes all summer long.