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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
89
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
At heart, it's a funny, raucous, bittersweet and vividly entertaining chronicle of the spontaneous emotional combustion that goes on in the lives of one soulful, eclectic assortment of firehouse characters. OK, 62 Truck, time to go back to work...Crank up the sirens. Rescue Me has arrived to rescue prime time from the hazy, lazy days of summer. [11 June 2007, p.1]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
No drama mixes the profoundly painful with the profanely funny more expertly than Rescue Me, Denis Leary's FX series about New York City firefighters. As laughter wraps itself around anguish on this Manhattan landscape, you wonder if what's unfolding is an epic American tragedy or a raunchy workplace comedy. [12 June 2007, p.E1]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Funny, shocking and purposely incorrect, this testosterone-drenched series from Denis Leary and Peter Tolan returns to reclaim its spot as basic cable's best show, bar none. [13 June 2007, p.10D]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Rescue Me may ask a lot of its viewers, but it's always a leap worth taking, and well rewarded. [13 June 2007, p.E1]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
But don't call it a dramedy. No, the great trick of Rescue Me is that it's the saddest drama on television at which you possibly will laugh at. Some also would call it the best. [13 June 2007, p.C1]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Based on the first three new episodes, I can continue to put Rescue Me on my list as one of the best 20 shows that have ever been on TV. [13 June 2007, p.51]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
For its first three seasons, Rescue Me, starring Denis Leary as a haunted New York firefighter, was one of the funniest dramas on television. This season begins with a slight shift: It's now one of the most dramatic comedies. [13 June 2007, p.75]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
A four-alarm run of fiery performances laced with hurt and hilarity. It means writing that swerves brilliantly from racy humor to lacerating pain, from steamy encounters to brutal insights. And it means spending quality time with some of the most human, street-level, flesh-and-blood characters you're likely to encounter anywhere in the television realm. [30 May 2006, p.E1]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
Rescue Me isn't your run-of-the-mill TV drama. It's astonishing in its ability to mix tremendous tragedy with genuinely hilarious comedy. [30 May 2006]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
In lesser hands, the show would be suffocating, a dramatic black hole from which no light could escape. But Denis Leary, who stars as Tommy, and co-creator Peter Tolan are brilliant at letting a little humor creep in at just the right time. [30 May 2006, p.1E]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Last summer's best series was FX's Rescue Me, a daring comedy-drama about New York City firefighters. It's a good bet this imaginative, adult show will repeat as the top series this summer. In its second season, which begins Tuesday, the program has lost none of its nerve or verve.
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Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Amazing. [20 June 2005, p.B7]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Riveting. [21 June 2005, p.E1]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Put together, all these elements make Rescue Me one of the television's top dramas, on a par with the likes of "Deadwood" and "The Shield." It is that rare TV series that offers insight, generates heartfelt emotion and challenges the viewer to consider the darker corners of the soul. [21 June 2005, p.2D]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Its second season begins tonight and is just as flat-out brilliant as its first, as funny as it is uncomfortable, as entertaining as it is haunting. [21 June 2005, p.1E]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
May be the network's most effective combination yet of artistic reach and popular appeal. Created by The Job's Peter Tolan and Denis Leary, who also stars, Rescue Me could do for firefighters what "NYPD Blue" did for cops: strip them of myth while celebrating their humanity.
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Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
In an age when TV is quickly going the way of all idiots, a show like this is a gift...I watched three episodes and can't wait to see more! more! more!
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Outstanding. [21 July 2004, p.E01]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Rescue Me burns with authenticity, rising from the newly cluttered landscape of summer TV programming to become the No. 1 must-see. [21 July 2004, p.F01]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Brilliant. [21 July 2004, p.4E]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
It's as funny in some places as it is raw and touching in others. Make an effort to watch this premiere, and add it to your short list of must-see TV. [21 July 2004, p.80]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
A flat-out terrific new series on FX that blends the harsh reality of what firefighters face on the job with the sometimes equally harsh reality they deal with when they go home...In short, you want to care about these characters and their lives, and there's nothing more you can ask from a show. [21 July 2004, p.1E]
Aug 4, 2011
Season 7 Review:
Denis Leary's superb comedy-drama about New York City firefighters, will end its seven-year run a few days before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. [15 Aug 2011, p.34]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Clearly, Rescue Me isn't for everyone, but the fearless, funny series is don't-miss viewing for its legions of fans. [13 June 2007, p.L15]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
Rescue Me isn't for everyone, particularly those who find Leary's fuming a little too convincing. But it's certainly a TV gem, rough but gleaming. [30 May 2006, p.E1]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Rescue Me has the feel of real. It talks tough and packs a volatile working class wallop while exploring the stress-fueled world of men in a very dangerous job. [21 July 2004, p.1D]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
In the vein of Bill Murray, [Leary] is now a subtler tragic-comic actor who signals both tough luck and buoyant twinkles with a smirk and a glance. [30 May 2006, p.39]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
There is no question Rescue Me walks a very thin artistic line. The miracle, in television terms, is how brilliantly it works. While heart-wrenching at times, it is also a very funny series. [21 July 2004, p.6E]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
The language and sentiments are often unfiltered and raw, maybe more than you want at times, but Leary is a master at playing guys on the edge and this is an extraordinary showcase, by turns moving, funny and stunning. [21 July 2004, p.61]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Outstanding. [21 July 2004, p.E6]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Occasionally, Rescue Me hammers the viewer with facile speechifying meant to establish the series' point of view. It more than makes up for these lapses with vivid characters, a slick visual style and pop tunes that cut against the grain of what's happening on screen. [21 July 2004, p.13E]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
The women aren't as shrill as they've been in the past, and even Sheila (Callie Thorne), the histrionic widow of Tommy's dead cousin has become a decent comedic foil. Better yet, Susan Sarandon steps up to the plate this season as a confident, rich woman - not a girl, a woman, Tommy points out - who wants to seduce Franco (Daniel Sunjata). [30 May 2006, p.D1]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
A warning: Once hooked, you'll be with the show to the end. [30 May 2006]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
If, as a woman, you've ever wondered how men act when they're together, how they talk to each other, how they deal with rage and confusion and lust, there's no better guide than this show, which may just be hitting its stride in its third season. [30 May 2006, p.3]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Rescue Me is not a show for the easily offended. Profanity is rampant along with sexual innuendo and references to sex acts. It can be profane in the extreme, however, and it rings true to the characters and their situations. [19 June 2005, p.TV-5]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Leary has emerged as a creative force to be reckoned with; he writes the show with co-creator Peter Tolan in addition to starring in it. His rapid-fire wit and comedic cadence permeate the wiry, combative dialogue that serves the series so well. [21 June 2005, p.E1]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
If there's a problem with Rescue Me, it's that FX's law-enforcement series, "The Shield," has set the bar so high in the one-hour drama realm. "Rescue Me" story lines occasionally veer into superficiality and repetitiveness, and Gavin's boorishness and selfishness can be a little predictable and tiresome. [21 June 2005, p.C1]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Rescue Me is by no stretch of the imagination a documentary, but a lot of what happens in this series comes from the real lives of real New York firefighters, which is sort of a mixed blessing, given that the behavior of the fictional FDNYers includes drinking, smoking, swearing, womanizing, bigotry and even the occasional bit of thievery. [21 June 2005]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
When this show clicks in its first three episodes, it's because it violates a bigger rule, the one that says every New York firefighter, after the department's World Trade Center sacrifice, sports a halo and maybe a cape, and if he can carry a tune, he gets to sing at baseball games. [21 July 2004, p.C1]
Season 6 Review:
The comic relief we have come to rely on in the macho camaraderie has more of a tinge of gallows humor this season, which isn't to say that Rescue Me feels like a show on its last legs, more like it's nearing its natural (or, given the frequency of Tommy's post-traumatic hallucinations, unnatural) end.
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Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
The show's still a hoot to watch. Besides which, the actors are almost as cute as real NYC firefighters. Almost. [12 June 2007, p.97]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
Rescue Me has also created wonderful, layered roles for women, including Andrea Roth ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") as Tommy's estranged wife, Janet, and Tatum O'Neal as temperamental sister Maggie Gavin...Plus, such impressive actresses as Susan Sarandon and Marisa Tomei have signed on for roles as recurring characters this season. [30 May 2006, p.1]
Jan 27, 2014
Season 3 Review:
Your love for the show depends on your tolerance for Leary and his overbearing character. [30 May 2006, p.28]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Outside of McGee, the new season suggests that Rescue Me has gone as far as it can go as a comedy/drama hybrid. Almost all of the best scenes are the funny ones - or the ones that start dark, then turn funny, like Tommy brainstorming with Mike (Mike Lombardi) on the best way to euthanize his ailing mother.[12 June 2007, p.41]
Jul 13, 2011
Season 7 Review:
When I come back it's not because Rescue Me can be insanely funny--though it can be, particularly when it sticks close to the firehouse--but because I still believe that buried under layers and layers of Leary's nonsense, there's an actual story that's dying to get out.
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Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
Most of Rescue Me rings true. One would hope, though, that after an interval of nearly three years, real New York firefighters focus a little less on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, than is depicted here. [21 July 2004, p.F-6]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
For all their macho posturing, you've got to wonder sometimes whether Leary and Tolan didn't spend their younger days watching soaps. [13 June 2007, p.43]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
The alchemy is imperfect. Rescue Me is worthy and at times engrossing, but not addictive. Viewers can appreciate the effort -- this is an atonal love song to New York firefighters -- without feeling any need to see the next episode. By the end of the first we know where this is all headed, so pleasure really depends on how much we enjoy the ride.
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Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
Judging from the first two episodes of the new season, Rescue Me is taking a gentler, if dopier tone. [13 June 2007, p.39]
Jan 28, 2014
Season 4 Review:
What's missing most from Rescue Me's first couple of episodes, at least, are scenes of firehouse camaraderie among Gavin and his fellow firefighters. [13 June 2007, p.12]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
There's still heat to Rescue Me - it just needs something to stoke the drama. [19 June 2005, p.A03]
Jan 22, 2014
Season 1 Review:
But as perfect as Leary is in some ways to play the wounded and angry working man in midlife crisis, it is a one-note act...Leary is simply not an actor capable of other notes, let alone nuance. Anyone who saw him in the ABC cop series "The Job" has seen this character.
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