It's been over a year since the last new episode of Rescue Me - a full episode. As enjoyable as those 10 minisodes were, let's be honest - they just didn't cut it. Once again, the writer's strike screwed everything up. Season four ended, we found out that season five got a 22 episode order... and we've been waiting ever since.
With Nip/Tuck and Damages returning in January, it's safe to assume that Tommy and the 62 Truck boys will be back in April and when I spoke with Leary over the phone earlier this year, he said that the first six episodes of the new season are some of the best written stuff the show has ever had. Leary was mute at the time when it came to plots, except to say that the premiere has a pretty amazing fire scene.
Well, he's talking now. At a book signing in LA earlier this week, Leary got candid with a few fans and divulged a huge plot for the first ten season five installments:
September 11th.
Huh? Isn't the whole show about that? Firefighters dealing with life, work and love in a post-9/11 world? Remember the great 9/11 speech Tommy gave in the pilot? Or the time he peed all over the 9/11 cookies that guy was selling?
True, the September 11th terrorist attacks have always played a role in the FX drama, but it's about to get much more serious it seems. Leary said that "conspiracy and reinvestigation into 9/11" will play a major role in the first half of the new season.
I see this going one of two ways. While we know far more about 9/11 now that we did when Rescue Me first premiered back in 2004, it's still an extremely touchy subject. It's going to be very interesting to see how Leary and Co. handle a reinvestigation on the show. Depending on how the truth is portrayed versus "what we wish was happening," the entire plot has the potential to either draw some serious acclaim for tackling the subject or it could instead get a huge critical beat-down for going too far.
[via LA Weekly]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-03-2008 @ 2:38PM
Tony said...
Interesting. What an incredible show this is. It's been way way way too long that this show has been off the air (16 months and counting to be exact). April can't come soon enough. My question is are they going to air all 22 episodes back to back or air the first 10 in the spring and the back 12 in the fall? I hope it's all in a row as this has been a great summer show.
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12-03-2008 @ 2:40PM
Jonathan Toomey said...
Tony--
Check out that link to the phoner I did with Leary earlier this year. He confirmed that all 22 will air consecutively.
12-03-2008 @ 4:04PM
0megapart!cle said...
While the minisodes didn't replace the need for an actual Rescue Me season, I think they did a fantastic job of shortened the percieved length between Rescue Me seasons. It certainly feels like there was a shorter break between Rescue Me seasons than 24 seasons, and I think that is because of the minisodes. 24 has even done minisodes in the past, but without the main cast and only airing on cellphones and online. How cool would it have been if they aired a season of minisodes similar to the cellphone ones but with the main cast, bigger budget, and airing on TV?
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12-04-2008 @ 12:53AM
Jimmy said...
This doesn't exactly get me excited about the new season or give me hope it will return to the form set in Seasons 1 and 2. At the risk of sounding insensitive, we have moved on from 9/11. Leary and the NYFD need to do the same.
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12-04-2008 @ 12:53AM
Butters said...
For Rescue Me to "move on" from 9/11 would be like Mad Men moving on from the 60's or Lost moving on and no longer mentioning the island.
12-04-2008 @ 12:54AM
Adam said...
Leary recently called the 9/11 conspiracy theroists nutjobs without lives, so it's pretty clear that the topic won't be taken very serious. Garrity and Mike will probably take them seriously, and Tommy and Lou will beat them up over it.I've never been one for conspiracy theories, so I'm looking forward to Leary going to town with them. I just hope Franco's special buddy comes back. He was the funniest character in the history of Rescue Me.
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12-04-2008 @ 11:03AM
jaerisk said...
You've never been one for conspiracy theories? wtf..once upone a time the earth being ROUND was a "conspiracy theory" lol I think people don't actually know definition of those TWO words. Oh yea and Rescue Me rules...hot chicks and Tommy Gavin FTW
12-04-2008 @ 1:10PM
Rico said...
I imagine Franco would be in the conspiracy camp. In real life, Daniel Sunjata is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
12-08-2008 @ 10:30AM
Chris Hawkins said...
I recently won an online auction to have dinner with the cast of Rescue Me (minus Leary) and they all said this will be the best season ever! Can't wait! They did reveal a few small tidbits about the new season, nothing to great, but none the less someone from the last season will be returning which will be very interesting to find out how the story plays out. They were all great down to earth people.
Scurti is the coolest!
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