Rescue Me - The Complete First Season (DVD)

FX has done it again, first they bring the hard-hitting police drama "The Shield" to the small screen, followed by the fast paced "medical" drama "nip/tuck" and now fire fighting is taken to the next level as Denis Leary stars in "Rescue Me."

At first glance it may seem a bit odd to have Denis Leary, a one time foul mouthed comic, starring in a dramatic series, especially once you learn that he was the brain behind the operation and a continuing writer with production pal Peter Tolan. The great thing is that Leary proves he has the acting chops and his witty and unique style of humor plays well in the picture and gives it its realism in a firehouse filled with sex craved sarcasm and bravado.

While the show features several characters the primary storyline surrounds Tommy Gavin (Leary) a fire fighter suffering from the traumatic events from 9/11 where his firehouse, Truck Company 62, lost four men including Gavin's own cousin. His marriage is in shambles as his wife and three kids now live across the street and Gavin is literally left to deal with the ghosts of the fallen firemen and those he has failed to save over the years.

While "Rescue Me" never really offers up anything other than tragedy it can be understood considering the subject matter deals with some dark material, and no matter how dark it gets you are always compelled to continue on through as the 12 episodes from the first season seem to go buy far too fast.

FX has taken the creation of television series to a new level as they follow in the footsteps of HBO's hit series by creating fewer episodes and spending more time and money to make each episode worth its salt. On top of that the entire cast is perfect for their roles despite being made up of relative unknown actors all the way around and it never goes so far as to use guest stars to up the marketing opportunities, and it doesn't need to.

As for this DVD set the show is really all you need in order to consider this one worth the cash, but there are a couple of goodies here to take notice of and the primary one is the commentary available on the first and final episodes with Leary and Tolan, the best part is to hear Leary talk about his role in the series letting us know how much talent he actually has.

The other features consist of four behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, a blooper reel and a look at the upcoming season two premiere. Of this bunch the behind-the-scenes looks are not too bad and the blooper reel is interesting to watch considering the show is so heavy handed that to see the lighter side is a breath of fresh air.

If you love "The Shield" and "nip/tuck" then this is the show for you as FX continues their reign on edgy drama for the after hour viewers.