The House Next Door has put together a lengthy analysis of Denis Leary's Rescue Me. I think it might be a bit too harsh, even if its observations are largely accurate.

So what makes Rescue Me worth watching at all? For one thing, it's a show with a singular voice. Both its best and worst inclinations stem naturally from Leary and Tolan's view of the world as a bleak place where only a mordant sense of humor will get you through the day. A lot of dramatic TV either sands off its rough edges or sharpens them to a fine point in order to compensate for a weak product (Rescue Me's FX stablemate Nip/Tuck is guilty of the latter). Whatever other complaints one can muster, it's hard to say that Rescue Me doesn't come from a genuinely artistic place. What Rescue Me offers, what keeps its fans coming back week after week are smaller moments that counteract the dramatic bombast.

Throughout the season, Rescue Me played to its greatest strength, comedy. Even an underwhelming episode might boast an extended, massively entertaining bit like fireman Sean Garrity (Steven Pasquale) sleepwalking with dried chip dip on his face, destroying a supermarket and somehow winning his girlfriend's love in the process.

• Trauma and Drama on Rescue Me (spoiler alert!!)
  

previously on wtg:

• great music to the rescue
• fx is the new hbo
  

Filed in: tv rescueme