Post by Peach on Jun 20, 2005 13:33:17 GMT -5
Hi Gang
I found this review of "Rescue Me" on Newsday.com, and it compares the show (and Denis Leary's performance) to The Shield (and Michael Chiklis).
I know that a few of you had mentioned watching Rescue Me in the off season so thought you might find this review interesting - and for those who don't watch it, thought you might at least enjoy the bit about The Shield. So, without further ado:
His fire still isn't under control
By DIANE WERTS, STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2005
What some people call brave, others call foolhardy. Denis Leary's "Rescue Me" goes both ways. The series creator-star's acerbic lead character is a self-destructive city firefighter so haunted by the 343 department deaths of Sept. 11 that he can't see straight. He descends into alcoholism, closes off emotionally, acts out violently, alienates his family, angers his colleagues. This is a man begging to be hated while yearning to be understood.
It's daring TV. It's also a frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying viewing experience.
And we can no longer chalk it up to growing pains. "Rescue Me" is now starting its second season, and the foolish flirtations of its initial episodes have matured into deliberate choices. Leary plays a droll boy-man whose child side unfortunately wins every rock-paper-scissors "debate." He screws around and screws up, then pleads to be forgiven, despite no apparent understanding or willingness to evolve. Disagreements get resolved with fistfights. Co-creator Peter Tolan's location production, while beautifully showcasing New York City, also dwells on Leary's nyah-nyah spats, lingering on every immature "so there" and "did too." It's initially funny. Then it's sad. Then it's simply no progress.
Same with the show's inside-the-head meanderings. Last season's pilot episode had Leary "haunted" by the victims he couldn't save, whose ghosts followed him around, held conversations and even paraded down the beach where he was brooding. Tonight's return leans heavily on Leary's "dreams," which unfortunately play as another lazy way to convey the inner desperation the waking action can't.
Too bad. This FX show can look to its drama series predecessor "The Shield" to see how a bad apple can be stripped to its core. Michael Chiklis' renegade cop Vic Mackey is a dark soul, too, but his redemptive social-justice streak rises in counterpoint to his self-preservation evildoings. That interplay drives the drama, rounded out by richly depicted antagonists. While Leary can't match Chiklis' acting chops, the scripts and direction of "Rescue Me" don't help. The cutting choppily zig-zags from scene to scene without letting true drama build. This second season is even more inclined toward humor, forced by undercutting serious issues and overemphasizing unlikely traits and juxtapositions. Supporting characters serve as conflict, not flesh-and-blood humanity.
We're only getting half the story Leary and Tolan intend to tell. The firefighters' gut-check goodness is missing. There's too much juvenile acting out, not nearly enough inner moral fiber. While observing the symptom is fine for a while, it's time to explore deeper causes. Before we don't care.
~peach
I found this review of "Rescue Me" on Newsday.com, and it compares the show (and Denis Leary's performance) to The Shield (and Michael Chiklis).
I know that a few of you had mentioned watching Rescue Me in the off season so thought you might find this review interesting - and for those who don't watch it, thought you might at least enjoy the bit about The Shield. So, without further ado:
His fire still isn't under control
By DIANE WERTS, STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2005
What some people call brave, others call foolhardy. Denis Leary's "Rescue Me" goes both ways. The series creator-star's acerbic lead character is a self-destructive city firefighter so haunted by the 343 department deaths of Sept. 11 that he can't see straight. He descends into alcoholism, closes off emotionally, acts out violently, alienates his family, angers his colleagues. This is a man begging to be hated while yearning to be understood.
It's daring TV. It's also a frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying viewing experience.
And we can no longer chalk it up to growing pains. "Rescue Me" is now starting its second season, and the foolish flirtations of its initial episodes have matured into deliberate choices. Leary plays a droll boy-man whose child side unfortunately wins every rock-paper-scissors "debate." He screws around and screws up, then pleads to be forgiven, despite no apparent understanding or willingness to evolve. Disagreements get resolved with fistfights. Co-creator Peter Tolan's location production, while beautifully showcasing New York City, also dwells on Leary's nyah-nyah spats, lingering on every immature "so there" and "did too." It's initially funny. Then it's sad. Then it's simply no progress.
Same with the show's inside-the-head meanderings. Last season's pilot episode had Leary "haunted" by the victims he couldn't save, whose ghosts followed him around, held conversations and even paraded down the beach where he was brooding. Tonight's return leans heavily on Leary's "dreams," which unfortunately play as another lazy way to convey the inner desperation the waking action can't.
Too bad. This FX show can look to its drama series predecessor "The Shield" to see how a bad apple can be stripped to its core. Michael Chiklis' renegade cop Vic Mackey is a dark soul, too, but his redemptive social-justice streak rises in counterpoint to his self-preservation evildoings. That interplay drives the drama, rounded out by richly depicted antagonists. While Leary can't match Chiklis' acting chops, the scripts and direction of "Rescue Me" don't help. The cutting choppily zig-zags from scene to scene without letting true drama build. This second season is even more inclined toward humor, forced by undercutting serious issues and overemphasizing unlikely traits and juxtapositions. Supporting characters serve as conflict, not flesh-and-blood humanity.
We're only getting half the story Leary and Tolan intend to tell. The firefighters' gut-check goodness is missing. There's too much juvenile acting out, not nearly enough inner moral fiber. While observing the symptom is fine for a while, it's time to explore deeper causes. Before we don't care.
~peach