TVSquad

(M10) Well, now - wasn't much going on there, huh? That isn't a negative comment though. Other than the 9/11 minisode featuring Jimmy, "Smoke" was probably my favorite one out of all ten. Just the 62 Truck boys doing what they do best - saving lives. No words were spoken (hence, the lack of a quote at the beginning of the post) as the guys rushed through one of the worst fires I think we've ever seen on Rescue Me. Tommy saved a young girl and Lou brought out a dog. Not bad.

(M9) "It's just the same as drinking water... right?" - Mike

All these guys do is eat, sleep, drink, and get laid. Occasionally, they fight fires. Seeing as how they do it so infrequently, I can't say that I'm surprised that Mike (still the Probie in this episode) forgot to fill the cooler with drinking water before going out on a call. All Mike does is eat, sleep, drink, get laid, and forget stuff.

(M8) "The "thing" is the food you would most like to eat after you bang her." - Lou

No joke - I have had this same conversation before with friends. Same premise (person, place, and thing) and we came down to discussing "the Jessicas" too. The Biels. The Albas. The Langes. And yes - The Rabbits. However, the thought of getting crayon on my naughty bits never crossed my mind when I was talking about hopping (no pun intended) in the sack with Roger Rabbit's woman. Then again, I wasn't standing in a burning building while trying to fight off painful shit cramps.

It's coming. The table is set, the players are on the field, the sails are raised, and the pretty maids are all in a row. Of course, I speak of the 2008-09 television schedule. In just a few short weeks viewers will be able to dine on a number of favorite and new dishes that are being served by the networks as well as the increasing number of cable channels who are delving into original programming.

While other fall seasons have come and gone with nary a whimper, this season may be different. Due to the prolonged Writers Strike many shows ended their seasons quite early. Programs like Life, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Heroes haven't aired original episodes since the end of 2007. Heck, there hasn't been a new episode of The Shield since June of last year! So, the beginning of the 2008-09 season will be a second chance for some of these shows, particularly the ones that premiered last season, to show their worth to fans and the networks.

(M6) "I love you." - Janet

Here it is folks - the minisode that actually aired last night. For those just joining the action, I went ahead and reviewed this week's episode after seeing it online. I didn't watch the broadcast. Big mistake - on my part and FX's. They uploaded next week's installment, "Sandwich," by accident. They've also since pulled the wrong video from sites like Crackle and Hulu and they've yet to upload the right one. Oddly enough, I was able to find it on MySpace and I've embedded it at the end. All that being said... I wish "Sandwich" had been the right episode because this one stunk.

(M7) "Mmm... oh... my... god. Wow." - Tommy

OK, so I'm confused. Was this minisode even supposed to have aired last night? All the TV listings, Crackle, and Hulu have this listed as "Supreme." This one, "Sandwich," wasn't set to play until next week. I guess they got switched too late and the scheduling information wasn't changed? Anyway, while I was expecting something serious about Tommy's "dreams and nightmares," instead we got probably the funniest and most well-written minisode yet.

(M5) "...he's Mikey, OK? He's like the locusts. He's not gonna be right again for like seven years." - Lou

For once, Lou wasn't right. Doesn't really matter though because let's be honest - this wasn't really that funny at all. After the hilarious first few minisodes, and then last week's jaw-dropping finish, this one really fell flat for me.

I mean, c'mon - we all know that Mike is an idiot. Didn't we find out he had dyslexia at one point? Based on that alone, you wouldn't expect him to be able to spell common words. The obvious joke then, is that he can. And he did.

Boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Boring.

(M4) "He's got back acne on his goddamn ears!" - Tommy

Pretty good timing that this episode was scheduled to air the same night at the MLB mid-summer classic, huh? As unfortunate as it is, you just can't have a conversation about baseball anymore without bringing up the subject of steroids. That's why this minisode was so well done though. Steroid use in baseball has been a hot topic for a number of years now, so the initial time-frame of when this conversation took place was ambiguous at first. Even though Lou was talking about Mark McGwire as if he were currently active, that still gave you a big window. Then Jimmy Keefe walked in.

• They are ordering an additional 19 episodes of Nip/Tuck. The show will be end its run in early 2011 with an even 100 episodes. Show-runner Ryan Murphy wil stay through the end of the run.
• Michael J. Fox will appear on a four episode arc of Rescue Me next season. He'll play Janet Gavin's new boyfriend, who is confined to a wheelchair.
• Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden will be a regular on second season of Damages.
• The network has ordered 39 more episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is in addition to 13 currently being produced for the upcoming season.
• They are ordering 13 episode of new comedy series Testees, created by Kenny Hotz (South Park - Kenny vs Spenny). Its about two friends in their early 30's who earn living as medical guinea pigs.

(M3) "I like a bar with a nice clean head." - Lou

I'm gonna have to agree with Lou on this one. Nothing is more disgusting than walking in to a bathroom at a bar and seeing water(?) all over the floors, toilet seats with yellow stains, no toilet paper, and sinks that don't work. Some people though, that won't bother them. After all, you are just going in to pee and leave. Unless you're Lou. And you've had 12 beers. And the "pains" kick in. And there's no toilet paper. And you use your sock. The most troubling thing to me about that? There's lot of people who would probably do what Lou did in the same situation. Ugh.

(M2) "Do you have a boner?" - Franco

Wow... if Tommy isn't drinking anymore, maybe he should start. Fantasizing about his estranged wife is one thing. Thinking about your deceased cousin's widow isn't much better. Getting it on in your dreams with both of them? Well... OK. But having a sex dream with The Probie (even if Mike isn't "The Probie" anymore... he still is) is just plain freaky.

(M1) "Holy sh*t, you haven't had a coffee, a smoke, or a Twinkie in three days dude?!?" - Mike

Rescue Me is back... sort of. Since the full order fifth season (we're getting 22 episodes!) has been bumped until spring 2009 because of the writer's strike, Denis Leary and Peter Tolan decided to give us fans something to watch in the meantime: ten, five minute minisodes. Last time they did this, between seasons 2 and 3, we got one fifteen minute minisode and it was hilarious. All I'll say is this: it must be the wolf! Anyway, these short vignettes are what makes Rescue Me so great. More often than not, it's those goofy scenes in the firehouse (and not the ongoing plot) that make an episode memorable. Despite the fact that I'm bummed it'll be so long before we get new episodes, I don't see how a batch of these minisodes can be a bad thing.

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.