TVSquad

It's official. As of today, Lauren Graham will replace Maura Tierney in Parenthood, the NBC mid-season family drama. After the talk of Helen Hunt getting the role of a divorce mom struggling to get by, the former star of Gilmore Girls has landed the role... just like Bob wrote.

Hip-hip-hooray! Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to Maura Tierney who had to drop out because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wish her a speed recovery and a great role in another series after her treatments are successful. And Helen Hunt might have been a lovely choice, too. But I am a major Gilmore Girls fan. I'm thrilled to pieces that Lauren is coming back to series TV.

When Maura Tierney had to leave the production of the new NBC comedy Parenthood for cancer treatments, it was rumored that Helen Hunt would take her place. Now comes word that Hunt is out and another beloved TV star might be slipping into the role.

Michael Ausiello is reporting that Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham has met with Parenthood's producers after negotiations with Hunt broke down.

When Maura Tierney had to leave Parenthood because she needs to undergo treatment for breast cancer, there was speculation about who might replace her since the NBC project would be resuming. Well, the name that's come to the fore as Maura's replacement is a good one. Oscar and Emmy-winner Helen Hunt is in discussions for Parenthood, and usually if they're talking and it's in the trades, it's close to being a done deal.

If I were advising her and she cared about what I think, I'd tell Helen to take it. While Helen's TV experience was in a sitcom, Mad About You, she's better in dramedy. That's what As Good As It Gets was, and it got her an Oscar!

Actress Maura Tierney has been forced to abandon Parenthood, the NBC ensemble series in which she was cast last spring. Tierney had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery and now must have treatment – chemotherapy and radiation.

The producers had pushed back production when Tierney's health crisis arose in July, but now that her condition requires prolonged treatment, she's walking away from the project and they will move on without her.

Maura released a statement saying that she was disappointed about not being able to do Parenthood, but she was confident that she would recover and resume her career after her treatments are complete.

(S05E22) "You won't go to AA? I'll bring AA to you." - Teddy

After 22 episodes that didn't always feel all that cohesive, this was a finale that truly tied it all together. Rescue Me has had some memorable cliffhangers in the past, but this easily trumps them all not only for dramatic effect but for the potential lasting effects as well.

We'll get to all that because there really is a lot to discuss when it comes to "Drink." From the pettiness of Janet and Sheila to Damien's place at the 62 Truck house to the Gavin drinking epidemic, it was all answered in the comically twisted and dark fashion that we've come to expect from Rescue Me. Bottoms up.

The boys of 62 Truck are finally calling it quits. According to TVGuide.com, Tommy, Lou, Franco and the rest of the Rescue Me crew have fought their last fire, polished the rig one final time, and will hang up their boots for good in 2011.

Details on how it'll end, who might be back, and a preview of this Tuesday's season five finale are after the jump.

(S05E21) "That was some real father son type shit there, Tommy." - Black Shawn

The penultimate episode. Only one hour left to go in Rescue Me's massive 22 episode fifth season. There's been a lot to love, a lot to hate, orange (and teal!) penises, and plenty of drinking. Before I go on, I should point out that FX did end up sending out the final two episodes to critics (which is the only reason you're reading this right after the show has aired), and in an effort to make sure my reaction and speculation is as pure as possible, I watched and wrote up my review of "Jump" without having laid an eye on the season finale yet. So rest assured that anything that follows isn't a spoiler, and if it is? Well, good for me then.

(S05E20) "Call Turks and Caicos - tell people to start stabbing their eyes out." - Needles

This whole season of Rescue Me has been sort of a question mark for me. That's no secret - it's been excellent, but trying to determine what direction it's headed in has been a little tough. Obviously, the past four or five eps have really focused on Tommy's Sheila vs. Janet dilemma and I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that the final two episodes are gonna stick with that trend. How do I know? Well... I don't. Last night's episode was the last one FX sent out for early preview, so I'm basing what's after the jump on my own speculation and one potential HUGE spoiler. So there. You've been warned.

(S05E19) "This is all above board. It's underground of course, but it's above board." - Needles

What's that old saying? Chances are someone else has already said it better than you... or something like that? Well, this whole season of Rescue Me I've been looking for the right words to describe just how exactly I felt about it. There hasn't been a bad episode this season and I doubt any of the final three will disappoint either, but still - something has just been off.

Well, leave it to the show's co-creator, Peter Tolan, to put it in simple English at the TCA: when dealing with a shorter season (as in 13 vs. 22 episodes), you can focus on the quality of each episode (rather than being forced to move on to the next immediately). That's what I meant to say.

(S05E18) "Dude, I swear to God, you'd be a goddamn millionaire if you just cut that thing off and sold it to science." - Franco

This was easily the most polarizing episode thus far in Rescue Me's fifth season. There was a lot to love and, in my opinion, a lot to hate. It was extremely uneven, featuring a pointless dream sequence and played out gags. However, it ended with what will ultimately, I believe, go down as the best scene of the season and easily one of the best in the series to date, which can only mean one thing - Callie Thorne has done it again.

NBC seems to be sending out their screeners in dribs and drabs, so I'm making my way through their fall offerings very slowly. I've already given you previews of both Community and Trauma, and now we've got Parenthood, a new series based on a movie that was already turned into a series nearly twenty years ago. Who says Hollywood is out of ideas?

Parenthood is basically a less-melodramatic Brothers & Sisters. It follows the Braverman clan, a family in Fresno made up of four siblings: Adam (Peter Krause), Crosby (Dax Shepard), Sarah (Maura Tierney), and Julia (Erika Christensen), along with their children and parents, played by Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia. They all have their share of drama, but at the end of the day, they're all brought together in the most suburban of pursuits: Little League. Say it with me now: "awwww."

Wow, this sounds rather serious.

Maura Tierney, most recently on ER and now one of the stars of NBC's new comedy/drama Parenthood, is ill and will be going through a medical evaluation that will take several weeks. This means that the show will not start filming at the end of this month as originally planned. Instead, production will begin in September. No word yet on what exactly is wrong with Tierney.

Update: Tierney has released a statement.

Denis Leary probably wouldn't like you - that is, assuming you're fat, addicted to "coffee flavored coffee," unable to take a joke ... oh, and American. I'm pretty sure he likes me, but that's only because I recently spent half an hour on the phone with him, and I think he kinda, sorta, got to know me ... a little. His hugely successful FX firefighter dramedy Rescue Me can be described as politically incorrect with a heart of gold, and his best-selling first book, Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid is ... well, the title says it all, doesn't it?

Denis Leary is a man with opinions - wait, let me rephrase that - Denis Leary is a man with lots of opinions and as he points out in his book, most of us seem perfectly content to just let Oprah shame us into doing whatever she wants. With that in mind, it was nice to talk to someone with a wealth of personal passions and as much hate for Heidi and Spencer as I have. See? He got to know me ... a little.

(S05E10) "See? I told you he's got it under control." - Mike

As fans, we've really been rooting for a horrible thing if you think about it. The fact that we've all been waiting for Tommy to start full-blown drinking again is pretty twisted and now that it's been going on for a few episodes, we're starting to see the Tommy we remember - both the good and bad.

The issue of control is an obvious path to explore. We' ve seen Tommy lose it before - when we first met him, his original downward spiral was just beginning. That being said, I don't think any of us ever expected a year of sobriety to do him any good.

It probably strikes some people as odd that a network would greenlight a show in 2009-2010 that's based on a movie from 1989 that was later made into a series in 1990 (one of the writers on that version was Joss Whedon). But this seems like a natural for a network family sitcom, and it least it has some good people behind it: producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, director Thomas Schlamme, and cast members Peter Krause and Maura Tierney. Could be worth checking out.