Rescue Me – The Complete Third Series (Blu-ray + DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B/B-     Extras: B-     Episodes: B-

 

 

For years, Denis Leary was one of comedy’s bad boys, but at the same time found himself personally fighting for government funding for New York City’s own fire department.  No one was listening, he was telling it like it was and did everything he could to stop funding cuts.  Horrifically, it took the events of 9/11 to reverse that trend when many fire personnel died trying to save others.  Instead of “I told you so” and the like, Leary moved forward with his crusade and there are still issues to debate about the funding.  At the same time, another opportunity arrived to promote the department in the form of a new TV series.

 

He was cast as the lead in Rescue Me, one of the few intelligent drama/comedy series to debut on TV in recent years and remarkably, it became a much-deserved hit.  Instead of the tired formula fireman film (Ladder 49) or an attempt to improve on it (Ron Howard’s decent Backdraft), the show picked up on the style of shows like Homicide and even Oz (including one of its cast members, Dean Winters, who co-created the show) with a for real, living, urban and more naturalistic portrayal of a firehouse than has even been made before.  This Complete Third Series (2006) offers a lucky 13 hour-long shows and though the show is not always solid, it is much more hit than miss.

 

Sony is not only issuing this on DVD, but have made it their first TV show ever to be issued in the high definition Blu-ray format, arriving as the first in the format along with Lionsgate’s’ Weeds – Season One (reviewed elsewhere on this site) with that distinction.  Leary is surprisingly good holding back from his usual outrageousness as Tommy Gavin, the captain of his squad.  He is juggling his family and that one, plus all the fires, crimes and dysfunction thereof.  You can watch in progress, but I got the feeling I missed something by not starting at the beginning.

 

However, the cast is a plus with mostly new faces and the great Charles Durning as Tommy’s father, who seems long suffering.  I liked what I saw enough here to want and go back to the beginning, which is why I will not get specific about the storylines, but I was pleasantly surprised overall and expect the show to only gain in popularity.

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray looks better than the anamorphically enhanced DVD-Video version, which has too many soft scenes.  However, the show is stylized somewhat, but not to any ridiculously heavy extent.  It looks better than the Blu-ray of Weeds, but not as good as the HD-DVD of Smallville we covered, which has more to do with filming, styles and color use than anything about formats.

 

Both versions offer the sound in Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes that are not bad, but the PCM 16/48 5.1 on the Blu-ray is much cleaner, clearer and richer, if still lacking aggressive surrounds much of the time.  This is a dialogue-based show however, so it is not as much of an issue.  Overall, the Blu-ray is superior as expected and we doubt it would look this good in an HD broadcast with its consistencies.

 

Extras in both versions include five featurettes (Behind The Hose, Fighting Fires In A Vertical City, Behind The Smoke, Going To The Gay Place and Being Denis Leary), 14 deleted scenes, blooper/gag reel, location tour, Rescue Me Comedy Short, Rescue Me – Season 4 Preview and The Bravest Traditions.  All in all, a good show.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo