Rescue Me

My muse went on vacation and didn’t tell me

August 4, 2009 by kathi

Might as well take a TV break, because my muse has apparently gone on vacation without letting me know. Until she (muses are always “she,” right?) returns, it’s pretty unlikely anything creative will get accomplished here.

If you’ve visited here before, you know that even though the television is always on as background noise, the only shows I always make an effort to watch are Mad Men, Rescue Me, and Sons of Anarchy. Less than two weeks to go before Mad Men is back, and Sons just about a month off.

Good thing, too, because I am getting somewhat frustrated with Rescue Me. On the plus side, the show did get a deserved Emmy nod for a killer guest star turn by Michael J. Fox as the most assholish, anti-Alex P. Keaton character ever, and now a guest appearance from Maura Tierney is showing promise (may I say how happy I am to see Maura Tierney looking pretty again and playing someone other than Abby on E.R.). But the show is still spending way too much time for me on the Tommy-Janet-Sheila triangle. It is getting very tiresome. I wanted to punch Janet in the face during her “you need me if you want to keep seeing your kids” speech, and I almost fell asleep during Sheila’s “you make me hot” speech.

The firehouse banter and the actual fire scenes still make it worth my time, though. I still love to talk with my “technical advisor” about what’s real and what’s not. I was only very slightly surprised to find out that at his firehouse, they bet on Hell’s Kitchen and other cooking competitions, rather than Dancing With the Stars like the 62 Truck boys were doing last week.

Speaking of television, how disappointing to see that the Emmy Awards are not planning to televise presentation of the major writer’s awards. Without the writers, we’d be forced to watch reality crap all day and all night long. We’re way too close to that sorry state already. The #emmysfail Twitter hashtag is quite apropos for this.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 4 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 192 of 274)

Where do you go to talk about television?

May 27, 2009 by kathi

Where do you go to talk about your favorite television shows?

I have some good conversations at work about a few shows that all, or most, of us watch. But I haven’t found many online places, with the possible exceptions of BlogHer’s TV Rants & Raves group and Television Without Pity, that I actually enjoy reading, let alone where I enjoy participating in the discussion myself.

Maybe I’m being too annoyingly picky. I just want somewhere that isn’t too squeakily fangirlish (or fanboyish), but doesn’t swing to the other extreme of overanalyzing and being unbearably pretentious. For Rescue Me discussions, I expect badge bunnies, but not an overpopulation of same. Likewise for Sons of Anarchy discussions: I’d expect some wanna-be train pullers, but again, hopefully not an overpopulation of them.

Upon reflection, the overanalyzing criteria doesn’t apply to Mad Men. I do not believe that show can be discussed without some degree of overanalysis. Just my opinion, of course.

My personal fault is being a little too nit-picky about details of cities where I’ve lived or depictions of jobs or hobbies that I’ve been involved in. But since I didn’t start working in advertising production until the late 70s, and nothing is currently filming in Chicago or Honolulu, I can probably keep it to a minimum.

So if anyone has some good suggestions for communities or forums devoted to those shows that I might enjoy, I’d love to hear them!

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 27 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 123 of 274)

TV break (7 of 30/73 of 274)

April 7, 2009 by kathi

I’ll be playing catch-up with my 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge assignments after I get this post for NaBloPoMo in. Looks like I’ll be just under the wire with it, too.

Tonight’s big draw for me was the season premiere of Rescue Me. The 2008 season was missing in action due to the writer’s strike, so we have an extended 2009 Season 5 to look forward to: 22 episodes. So I am very happy to report that the season is off to a good start.

My favorite part about Rescue Me is the scenes in the kitchen, where they have the best conversations about some really dumb topics. Tonight’s question: would you rather lose one eye… or one ball? The firehouse banter is totally back and in great form. So is the seriously screwed up mess that is the Gavin family. And I have never seen Michael J. Fox play such an assholish character; I think he is going to be a great addition to the show.

Some things about this show still leave me at a loss. Tommy Gavin has really long hair for a firefighter. Also, with his very average looks, how would he have all those hot women chasing after him (I know, it is his show, and I guess if I ran a show, I would write myself as a major sex symbol, too, regardless of how far from reality that would be). My technical advisor assures me that being a firefighter, especially in uniform, does add to one’s sex appeal even if one is average-looking, so I will let that one slide for now. I also think Garrity and Silletti are played way too clueless. If they were that dumb, they would never have even passed the entrance exam, let alone survive as many fires as they’ve been on.

Some of you already know this: my “technical advisor” is my husband who is a firefighter/EMT-B with the Chicago Fire Department and from a firefighting family. The show is a big favorite of his, too. I often ask him if something on the show is something that would happen in real life. Usually the answer is yes. But he swears that to his knowledge, there has never been a… ermmmm…. male member measuring contest… at any of the houses he has been at. Improbable stuff does happen, including accidentally setting the firehouse on fire. It just probably wouldn’t happen all at the same house, to the same guys.

I’m glad Rescue Me is back – I missed it a lot. I have only a few must-watch shows, and this is definitely one of them.