Denis Leary flopped as a cop, but he’s smokin’ as a firefighter.
“The Job,” starring Leary as a boozy babe-hound detective, barely registered a pulse on ABC in 2001-02. But “Rescue Me,” starring Leary as a boozy babe-hound firefighter, is a hit on FX.
Seen at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, the freshman “Rescue” averages 2.8 million viewers per episode–an eyelash for broadcast networks but a strong number for cable.
More than half those viewers are 18- to 49-year-old men, an elusive demographic over whom advertisers salivate. Not surprisingly, FX last month renewed “Rescue” for a second season after just five episodes.
Going into a new show, “I never really expect anything,” says Leary, “Rescue’s” co-creator (with Peter Tolan), executive producer and writer. “I always figure that if I’m doing it right, a lot of people will respond.
” ‘Rescue’ definitely has some people [angry] or upset. That’s always a good sign. It means you’re hitting the place you want to be, where it’s real, where it’s funny. You’re not rounding off the edges.”
In “Rescue,” Leary’s Tommy Gavin is the senior firefighter of the motley crew on Manhattan’s 62 Truck, which includes Michael Lombardi, Steve Pasquale, Jack McGee and John Scurti. Andrea Roth plays his estranged wife.
Like all Leary’s characters, Tommy Gavin is deeply flawed–at work, a bona fide hero; at home, an alcoholic philanderer who lives across the street from his wife and three kids.
“I’ve never been good at the flat-out hero,” says the acerbic Leary, 46. “I like the idea of playing a guy with guts and courage to do what he does on the job but can’t solve fairly simple problems at home. It’s fun playing someone who’s conflicted about everything.”
Leary’s work is always on the edge, from independent films (“The Secret Lives of Dentists,” opposite Hope Davis) to stand-up comedy specials (“No Cure for Cancer”) to improvised fake reality shows (“Contest Searchlight”).
“Rescue” is FX’s third original drama, following “Nip/Tuck” and “The Shield.”
In Leary’s view, firefighters are more universally accepted as heroes than are cops.
“They both deal with life and death, but when a cop comes to the door, he could be there to arrest you. With a fireman, he’s there for only one reason: to save you.”
———-
Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
