Hot hot heat.
Oh, Tommy Gavin. When will you get your life in order? Rescue Me is not the same show it was in its first season and by no means its better second season. The series is so obsessed with putting its characters into unfathomably bizarre romantic situations it’s hard to get excited when they’re actually fighting fires and in legitimate danger. More after the break…
1) Rescue Me begins its fourth season tonight on FX. It’ll be interesting to see if the series can right itself after the disasterous last third of season three. Whether or not the sink into complete absurdity is yet to be seen, though either development will be interesting to watch — at least for a while.
2) Elsewhere in basic cable, Bravo premieres the third season of Top Chef tonight (Top Chef: Miami — no joke). The show might not only be the best reality competition show on any network, but also one of the best cooking shows. Food + TV = Bliss
3) Friday will mark the final broadcast of The Price Is Right with Bob Barker as host. This is something that we all should certainly watch, not just to pay our respects to Mr. Stick-Mic himself to so we can remember what it was like to stay home from school when we were eight or how we’d spend the dog days of summer avoiding the heat. It’s also significant because how often are we reminded of the suggested retail price of lima beans?
4) HBO has posted the second episode of John From Cincinnati to HBO On-Demand, despite the episode not being shown on the actual network until Sunday night. I don’t know if this is going to be a recurring thing or not (like last season’s The Wire), but it’s certainly a good place to stay ahead of the game. I watched the episode and found it to be better than the first and probably a defining moment for the series. You will know after finishing it whether or not John From Cincinnati is for you (it’s certainly for me). I’ll post my thoughts early Monday morning, but feel free to add relevant comments here in the meantime (or, hell, even irrelevant comments. Just not irreverent comments. No one likes a smart alec, Mr. Smart Alec).
Apparently people really liked Dirt. That’s strange. Haven’t we, as a culture, tired of the celebrity worship game? No? We haven’t? Oh, I guess I didn’t get the memo. In any case, Dirt and The Riches have been rewarded for their strong viewership (over 5 million viewers each week, comperable to that of Rescue Me and The Shield) and given second seasons. Good news for fans of drama, I suppose, even though I question whether The Riches can pull off what they’ve done this season a second time. Either way I’m glad that Eddie Izzard gets to keep his job. As for Courtney Cox, I have no plans on starting to watch the show now.
In other FX news, Rescue Me is moving from Tuesdays to Wednesdays, apparently to make room for the new legal drama Damages. Leary and co. start their fourth season on June 14th. Damages doesn’t premiere until July 24th. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia isn’t coming back until September… which sucks because Ricky needs some summer comedy!
