I happened upon Rescue Me at the tail end of the first season and absolutely loved it and the characters. I ended up renting the first season in order to watch it start to finish. The second season seemed pretty good as well. I noticed that the characters were still great, but getting a little over the top. I was really looking forward to the third season, but after watching 3 episodes I found I couldn’t get into it. It seems the characters became, well, characters of characters; the interaction between supporting roles became more and more unbased in any sort of reality. I think what I liked originally was that it was character driven, and those characters seemed fun, while still realistic. Am I wrong on this? Should I have given this season more time? Has it veered back to the way it was, or has it stayed as I describe it? Oh, and how much screen time has Lenny Clark had since shooting the drunk driver? I thought he was the best character on the John Larroquette, with Daryl Mitchell a very close second.
I’m still watching. I think the quality of each episode can be determined by how many times Tommy gets laid. When he’s not banging someone, or trying to, it’s a pretty decent show.
I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but:
This week’s episode ended with one person shot and another having a heart attack. Somebody’s pregnant. Somebody’s buying Tommy a beach house. Somebody gave their child away. Somebody’s trying to decide if he’s gay. Somebody is getting married – no wait, maybe he’s not. Someone else did get married but it’s not working out so well. Somebody might be quitting the department.
The firehouse scenes are always worth watching, as are the scenes of the crew at work. But Tommy needs to keep his pants zipped.
Forgot this – Lenny Clark has gotten more screen time. But it’s been kinda silly.
I want to like it, but I’m getting tired of watching a bunch of characters who are all complete assholes. I mean, none of them have any redeeming characteristics, least of all Tommy.
Incidentally, this is also why It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is wearing thin for me. I know it’s funny. I used to think it was genius, but man. EVERY character is just unrelentingly evil. Blech.
Don’t watch it (though the pure, cackling evil on Sunny has never bothered me), but I do know a handful of people who stopped watching after the whole spusal rape incident and its subsequent semi-glossing over.
I’ve only been watching regularly since about 8 episodes or so and like the show quite a bit. As for characters with no redeeming qualities, I say if you want that, then watch “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” 
A question about the last episode: Tommy said something about Mary Tyler Moore, viagra, and strap-ons, but I didn’t quite catch it. Can someone quote what he said?
Damn. I knew I shouldn’t have Googled that. It’s already off the TiVo or I’d check.
It was a comment about MTM and another famous woman (forgot her name), and Tommy said he wouldn’t do either of them, even with a strap-on and viagra. I call bullshit. Tommy will bang anybody.
The other woman was Lena Horne, IIRC (which I very well may not :))
I stopped watching this year - Cat Fight’s spoiler
[spoiler]I stopped watching after Tommy raped his wife and they wanted me to be ok with it.
I realize that the week before, I had watched him beat his brother to a pulp, and wanted me to be ok with that, too. And after the rape, I really, really don’t like that I was just letting the battery go. They were both violent criminal acts and neither should have been simply excused and blown off, which the writers and actors did, and which they invited me to do too. I’m pissed at myself for almost accepting that invitation.
So I stopped watching.
[/spoiler]
Wasn’t it Ella Fitzgerald?
I’m very much the same way with a lot of shows (the Doors, Sid & Nancy and Boogie Nights all leap to mind), but not this one. I think the whole gang does have one redeeming factor: they are Firefighters. At the end of the day, they put their lives on the line for people, and often for each other.
Humour is a big help, too. Sure Tommy’s and ass, but he’s funny as hell.
I’d love a sitcom of Sid & Nancy! A steady stream of wacky neighbors in the Chelsea Hotel, Nancy trying to get into showbiz like Lucy Ricardo, the couple putting up with Sid’s mom’s meddling because she also supplies heroin!
Okay, that I’d watch
I’m pretty sure it was Eartha Kitt (meow!) not Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald.
It was Eartha Kitt, and Tommy’s had way worse. Kitt’s pretty hot now, and she’s pushing 80.
Tommy didn’t rape Janet. She never said "no or “stop”. The scene was rough, but their entire relationship has been like that. Plus, she then continued the relationship in a similar tenor. She doesn’t seem to consider it rape. They’re just extremely, extremely fucked up together (and separately) and should never be within 100 miles of each other.
Now when Sheila roofied Tommy, nailed him, then destroyed his apartment and made him believe he’d fallen off the wagon and blackd out, THAT was rape.
I agree that Tommy wasn’t raping his wife. Her subsequent visits in the same tone support that. There was a recent rough scene when they were against a wall, venting anger in each other’s faces at point blank – it was very intimate and had sexual overtones too.
I keep watching it for the adrenaline-rich emotional displays and sex. The show is completely over the top, and my dirty little secret.
I think it is probably the best show on TV. Also the soundtrack is awesome, just started listening to it this week.
Still watching, still love it. I love it just as much as The Job, which was Denis Leary’s last show. It’s one of the few shows on basic cable that makes me laugh out loud every week.
And I completely disagree that he “raped” his wife, nor that criminal charges should have been brought after he and his brother went at it.
Getting in a fight with your brother is a “violent, criminal act”? Please.
It doesn’t count as rape if Denis Leary does it, because he always keeps his clothes on during the act. If anything, he’s just staining his underpants.
Yes, when it involves pushing your brother’s head through car window and leaves him unable to walk.
That wasn’t a punch or two, or a bloodied nose. That was criminal.
Janet, btw, did say no and did protest. And he did it anyway. The director/producer also said it was rape in an interview…but that it would work out in the end.
To me, it seems that the center of the show is not a good person and does horrible things and the producers want me to not notice and/or don’t seem to know it themselves. There are other shows where the characters do horrible things - but the producers know, the directors know, the writers know, the audience knows, and often times the characters themselves know (though they might rationalize it away). I see that in The Shield and The Sopranos. Here, they seem oblivious and they want me to be too.
I’m not willing to do that anymore.
Well our fights have been pretty violent. I will admit I never threw him through a window, but I have been unable to walk after some of our more vicous bouts. (Broken ribs, etc). And I’ve broken his nose on more than one occasion. (And vice-versa). I guess I don’t give it as much weight as I would two strangers going at it.
But, I see your point.