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After the first 15 minutes of the HBO movie Recount, I was so upset, so filled with rage that I wondered if I wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Did I want to relive the events of November 7, 2000? Did I want to watch what happened, the craziest election fiasco in the last 25 years? I was compelled to stick with it because I had lived through it and I was dying to know what I didn't know when it unfolded in real time. I thought the HBO movie might teach me something, and, in fact, it did.

For those who don't want to know what happened in Recount, I won't reveal any spoilers until after the jump. Of course, if you don't already know how the election turned out, you've either been in a coma or are woefully out of touch. Suffice to say that Recount doesn't rewrite history. The ending is exactly as it was in 2000.

So, John Edwards finally made his endorsement announcement and it looks like he is a Barack Obama type of guy. In other news, I have, once again, managed to out-geek myself. As soon as Jon made that joke about Wolverine, I groaned and thought to myself, "Oh, come on. Daily Show, you've totally lost cool points. Wolverine's skeleton is definitely adamantium." And then that geeky guy came out and corrected Jon. And then I lost cool points. And then I lost extra cool points for using "cool points."

"Rice & Ripken: Together at... Why!?": With Karl Rove out of the way, it seems like the original Bush dream team is crumbling apart. Condolleeza Rice dragged someone else into the fun, introducing Cal Ripken, Jr. as a US public diplomacy special envoy. Apparently he's going to help build better relations in China by beating their asses in baseball.

"Clusterfuck to the White House: Divas Live": Several Democrats appeared on the super-gay super-channel Logo to talk about real important issues. Melissa Ethridge was there because, uh, I guess the situation isn't both gay and political if there isn't at least one famous, outspoken lesbian in attendance. The golf clips were really well-timed, especially the Bill Richardson one. Ohh, Richardson, he's a goofy one. As for Dennis Kucinich, the gays went ga-ga for him. It looks like Kucinich has finally found his new main demographic.

Warning! Gigantic spoiler ahead for Rescue Me. Don't read any further if you haven't watched the most recent episode.

Star and producer Denis Leary has not made a fan of his longtime co-star Jack McGee. The two used to be close but in the past couple of years (McGee says) that Leary has barely spoken to him. But that probably isn't going to be a problem anymore since...

Like I said, a major spoiler after the jump, so don't read on if you don't want to be, um, spoiled.

Denis Leary's controversial show focusing on the lives of firefighters will return for another season in the spring of 2007. Ratings for the FX show have improved this season, and there's more attention than ever being focused on the drama right now (mostly due to the now infamous "rape" episode).

The order is for 13 episodes, which might seem like a little, but this is cable, and the first three seasons of Rescue Me have been 13 episodes as well.

That's what he tells Entertainment Weekly. He would love to end the show by having half the cast die in the last episode.

"I'd love to do a fifth season where people think you're doing 13 episodes, and, in week 6, there's a giant fire and half the crew's dead and the show's over...you tune in and the &%$#@! things gone. I don't think they'll ever let us. But that would be great television."

And controversial television. Not that Rescue Me is a stranger to controversy. Just a couple of weeks ago was the now infamous episode where Leary's character raped (?) his ex-wife and she seemed to enjoy it (?). I put the question marks there because I don't watch the show, and people are split about what exactly happened. 

Season three of Rescue Me begins May 30th, and to promote it, F/X and Sony are launching a 15-minute digital short that will be available online, on demand, and on cell phones. The stand-alone short, called Rescue Me 2.5, was written by Denis Leary and Peter Tolan. It stars the entire regular cast. No details are available on what the short is about.

From May 8-29, AOL will be the exclusive broadband provider of the video. It will also be available as video-on-demand for free to customers of Adelphia, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, and DirecTV. A wireless deal is still in the works. On May 30, the short will be streaming on TVGuide.com, IMDB.com, and Heavy.com

[Thanks, Jeff!]

You know, I thought this show had been either canceled months ago or had just been forgotten about, but it's good news to hear that the Denis Leary show will return to FX on May 30. Thief, the Andre Braugher drama, will end its run on May 2, and the network will run movies and specials til Rescue Me returns.

Lots of heavy stuff coming this season, as well as a multi-episode guest appearance by Susan Sarandon.

When you tune into the second season opener of Rescue Me tonight (on fx at 10pm), keep this in mind as you watch Denis Leary: he hates acting!

He tells The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Acting is a pain...most of the time you're at the mercy of the phone ringing. You have to look good every day. You can be on the set for 60 takes for every scene by some director who thinks he's a genius." Leary is in charge of Rescue Me, doing everything from having final say on the production to rewriting scripts.

[via TV Tattle]