Denis Leary and Peter Tolan on Rescue Me, Red Sox, and writing
Denis Leary and Peter Tolan are busy men. As the two executive producers behind FX’s phenomenal drama Rescue Me, the two have had their plate full ever since the WGA strike ended. For those that haven’t heard, Rescue Me was renewed for a network-length 22 episode season scheduled to air in spring 2009. I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Leary and Tolan earlier today and both pointed out that this is an entirely different animal since they’re used to producing 13 episode seasons. Leary was quick to make a sports analogy: they pretty much have been working on season five since last year’s football season and they probably won’t wrap until next year’s basketball playoffs. He also made an alcohol analogy: it’s like they’re in TV rehab. Coming from the guy who plays Tommy Gavin, I’d say that’s fairly appropriate.
Of course, the entire point of the call was to discuss the upcoming string of Rescue Me minisodes set to premiere on FX this coming Tuesday, June 24th. So here’s what I can tell you about them now:
- I’ve seen the first three, and much like the comedy short they produced a few years ago, they are funny as hell. However, Leary made it clear that won’t necessarily be the case for all for all of them. He said that while black humor is organic to any firehouse, that’s not all there is to it. So we should expect some of the new shorts to have a more serious tone.
- That being said, there will be some tie-in to past events (the second minisode deals briefly with Tommy’s drinking issues) and even though all ten haven’t been shot yet (they’re working on them in between season five episodes as the schedule allows), Leary and Tolan said to not rule out the possibility that one of them may set up something for season five.
- FX President John Landgraf came up with the idea of the minisodes since the show would have been off the air for almost a year and a half.
And… that’s pretty much all there is to say about the minisodes. Myself and everyone else on the call figured that out fast though as questions quickly shifted to the new season. Here are the highlights, but be warned as some of it may be a little spoiler-ish:
- All of season five’s 22 episodes will air uninterrupted. I suppose that could change between now and 2009, but for now, it looks like it’ll just be billed as season five and not seasons five & six.
- Leary and Tolan both said that the first six episodes of the new season are hands down some of the best written stuff the show has ever had and that they’re definitely worth the wait. Leary also said that they seem to write better whenever the Red Sox are playing well. Call me crazy then, but I hope that isn’t true because the whole American League East has been sort of mediocre so far this season…
- The season five premiere has the most amazing fire scene they’ve done to date.
- Charles Durning will be back! Tommy’s dad is indeed dead, but they’re planning a scene (ala The Iceman Cometh) in which Tommy will be visited at a bar by all of his ghosts. That leaves the window open for Jerry too. Leary did say that he and Jack McGee had patched things up.
- Regarding Tommy’s dad’s passing, I asked about Timo and Rosemary - the lost Gavin siblings. Are they ever gonna come back? Leary responded that it’s a big Irish family and Tolan said that they just ended up focusing instead on Maggie and Johnny. Which I suppose makes sense. There are a lot of characters on the show and you’ve can’t stick with them all unfortunately.
- Leary and Tolan said they do have plans for how the series will end. They even went as far as saying they were committed to it and they were fairly certain that something like it hadn’t been done before. Some characters will get happy endings. Tolan said they can’t be mean forever.
- No worries about Tatum O’Neal either. She’ll be featured in plenty of episodes in the new season.
- As far as guest stars, they confirmed that Karina Lombard (The L Word) would play a French journalist writing a book on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I’m sure that’ll go over well with Tommy.
- There is one other guest star they wouldn’t name. Tolan did say this: he’s hoping the role will garner an Emmy nod for actor (actress?) in a guest role. Sounds like a good one then.
That’s all I got! Read the season five stuff slowly though because we won’t know if any of it comes true until around this time next year. Also, check back here on Tuesday nights. I’ll be reviewing the minisodes all summer long.
Showtime picks up Inside the NFL
As Bob Sassone wrote in his report about Inside the NFL ending its HBO run last February, the NFL was reporting that the show would find a home on another network. It has. And I can tell you now that Inside the NFL will be appearing weekly on Showtime. It’ll be a collaboration with CBS Sports and NFL Films. That said, I think we can expect to see CBS talent on the show.
In its most recent edition on HBO, Inside the NFL was hosted by Bob Costas, with expert input by former players and current broadcast analysts Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth and Cris Carter. Costas and Collinsworth are NBC employees, and Carter is part of ESPN. That leaves Danny Boy. And yes, he is a CBS guy, a regular commentator on The NFL Today every Sunday during football season. I’ll bet you right now that Dan will be on the show.
Inside the NFL is a unique weekly highlight show — one of the best ever — because shows the games up close from the viewpoint of NFL Films. Those cameras get inside of the game more than TV cameras. They’re films, not TV and the production values are like a documentary film. As a longtime football fan, I’m really glad that Inside the NFL will go on. This year will be its 32nd on the air.
The new Inside the NFL will premiere on September 10 on Showtime, where it will air each Wednesday until the Super Bowl champion is determined. “We’re thrilled to be joining the successful partnership of CBS Sports and the NFL in presenting the show to our subscribers,” said Matthew Blank, CEO of Showtime Networks. “It’s a perfect fit with our original scripted series and sports programming.”
NBC's New Sked: There's Good News, and There's Bad News
Today in New York, NBC announced its new schedules for fall, winter and next summer. Here's the news you need to know:
UPDATES (1 p.m.)
- There will be 28 Office half-hours to be produced next season, and 19 hours of ER.
- Two awesome redheads are better than one: Donal Logue is joining Life as Reese and Crews' new police captain boss! Cool!
- Friday Night Lights episodes will premiere in the fall on DirecTV months before episodes re-air on NBC in the winter. Good news for DirecTV, bad news for fans who are stuck with cable?
- Per the official release, "Heroes will come back with a bang owing to a major event in the fall." Will this bang be a nuclear explosion in New York City, or something else?
RETURNING SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
- Good news: Just as I was told by one of the castmembers last month (still not pictured above), Friday Night Lights is renewed!! Whee! Look for a premiere in its usual Friday at 9 p.m. slot this winter, right after the real football season ends.
- Bad news: Scrubs is gone from the NBC schedule.
- Good news: So as we reported last week, Scrubs is going to ABC. Yay!
- ER is returning for a 15th season, as we reported back in February.
- Heroes and Chuck are back on Mondays, at 8 and 9 p.m. respectively.
- Life is moving to Fridays at 10.
- Lipstick Jungle has been renewed! Brooke Shields and the girls will be back this fall at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays.
- Law & Order: SVU returns fall for Tuesdays at 10 p.m.; original-recipe Law & Order returns this winter for Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
- Um, where is Medium? Can someone tell me how NBC seems to have misplaced Joe DuBois? He's extremely good-looking and funny, about 6-feet tall, shaggy hair, and missing from the NBC listings. Anyone seen him? Updated! That was close. CBS Paramount, which produces the show, assures me that NBC has picked up Medium for a fifth season (Sundays at 9 p.m.), but the exact midseason premiere date is still undetermined. Whew!
NEW SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
- One of the few newly developed scripted comedies is Kath & Kim, a remake of an Australian show. It's produced by Reveille, the company Ben Silverman founded but no longer profits from as part of his gig as NBC network boss. Kath & Kim stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair as a mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship.
- The new Knight Rider, which NBC premiered as a movie of the week in February, is gonna be a continuing series! Awww, I'm having childhood TV flashbacks. Remember how they had the lab in the truck? Awesome!
- Fridays at 8 p.m., look for Crusoe, a castaway series based on Daniel Defoe's famous novel, now in the public domain and ripe for TV showification.
- The Philanthropist, premiering this winter on Mondays at 10 p.m., is about a rich guy whose money is the superpower he uses to fight crime and help the helpless. The Philanthropist comes from Tom Fontana (Homicide, Oz) and Barry Levinson, so it might just rock.
Yay?! Nay!?
TV Press Tour '07: Everything You Need to Know About Friday Night Lights
Hey, everyone. Korbi here, and I have to tell you, if I was geeking out yesterday, I’m gushing today. We’re at the tail end of the Friday Night Lights panel, and I’m on the verge of tears, simply because I so passionately heart this show.
However, I have a red carpet date with the cast shortly afterward (wish me luck!), so in the meantime, my partner in crime, Jen Godwin, will give you all the thrilling details on what we’ve just learned about the best drama currently on network television.
FYI: She’s never seen the show, so go easy on her. I will make a Dillon Panther fan of her this season if it kills me.
Jennifer?
Field Goals: Football may not be as central in every episode of season two, although obviously it’s still a huge part of the show. According to executive producer Jason Katims, “We might not play quite as many full-out games as we did last year. We start [this season] in the last week of summer, and they’re practicing.” Katims says they aren’t looking to change the show, and they will go through the entire football season. They just want women to know the show is for them as well. Also, they’re getting more into the defensive side of things this season. The new D-team rolls in around episode six.
Scintillating Socioeconomics: The show’s gritty realism isn’t going anywhere. Says Katims, "That’s the show. The show has for a backdrop a small town. It’s about high school football and the town’s obsession with it. It’s about marriage, parents, people trying to raise their kids, teenagers figuring out sexuality [and] issues of race and class."
Kyle-Connie Chemistry: When a reporter gives Connie Britton the huge, deserved compliment that Tami Taylor may be the strongest female character on television, she goes for the humble joke in response, saying, "Kyle’s so angry that I got asked the first question." After she answers seriously for a while, he interjects, "Am I gonna get to answer a second question?" When the reporter follows up about where Tami gets her core strength, Kyle raises his hand.
Taylor Time: The new season zooms forward eight months, and in the season premiere, Tami is in labor, and Eric comes back from Austin to be there for the birth. The Taylors immediately go into a five-ep arc about whether or not they made a mistake entering into this long-distance relationship. Tami’s dealing with an infant and a teenage daughter who’s "acting out more than she ever has," while Eric is dealing with "what college football is like and coaching there and not being the head guy in charge. A lot of interesting dynamics come out of that." According to Katims, "Eric and Tami are gonna be intensely connected from the beginning" of the season, rather than being separated into discrete stories or having an over-the-phone relationship.
Roll Tape: When the DVD comes out in August, you'll be able to marinate in extra footage. According to exec prod Jeffrey Reiner, the first cuts of many episodes were 15 to 20 minutes too long. He says, “Some of the material on the cutting room floor is pretty amazing.” Someone asked if the DVD would make or break the show, and Katims cracked, "I didn’t think it could break it!"
New Time Slot: Katims seemed at peace with the new time slot, Friday at 9 p.m. He says, "We always believed this was a 9 p.m. show…for it to be on at 8 was something that was a challenge to get past. And then the other thing was the idea of being Friday Night Lights and being on on another night, so [there are] really, really positive aspects of it.” As for any high school football fans who might actually be at games during that hour—they can record it, says Katims.
Hold the Line! Someone asked what Katims would do if the powers that be wanted to change the show. Katims said, “You mean before the suicide attempt? Or after? If somebody really wants to sit down and have a conversation about changing it, it’s hard to imagine how we would change it. I mean, [referring to NBC's hit show, Heroes] we are adding the superpowers this year, but other than that, I don’t see any changes.“
Triangle’s End? Big news! Apparently Jason begins to get movement back in one of his hands, and he takes it as a sign that he could someday walk again. He begins to explore treatments for his condition. He ends up reconnecting with Tim and Lyla through that process of seeking treatment, and it follows up on what happened between Tim and Jason and Lyla last year and—wait for it—"resolves all that stuff."
A little more scoop on Mr. Street? Jason has earned his GED and is full-time on the coaching staff this season. Unfortunately, the new non-Eric Taylor coach wants him to put his new job ahead of his friends on the team and there will be friction.
Kiss and Tell: What’s next for Tyra and Landry after their kiss that got cut from the finale but was launched into legend nonetheless? According to Katims, in the first ep, the guy who tried to rape Tyra toward the end of last season comes back. Something happens as a result of that that ties Tyra and Landry together in a way that’s more intimate than their relationship now…
Dangerous Liasions: Minka Kelly, who plays Lyla, was asked about her “infidelity“ storyline and says people pointed fingers in her face and yelled at her about the character, “But a lot of people were actually touched as well, because you’d be surprised how common of a story it is. Scott and I worked with a lot of couples in the same circumstances, who were happy to see their situation being portrayed.”
Random Spoilers
- One of the characters finds God.
- One of the characters has an unexpected wandering eye.
- Seems like they may have cast the new coach today…Just a little hunch.
Quote of the Moment
"I'm from Zimbabwe, but I know good TV: You guys are awesome."
—Random guy in Seattle with thick accent, to Zach Gilford
Update: So, what do you guys think of the idea of Rosie O'Donnell playing an angry Dillon High soccer coach on Lights, as reported by our frenemy? According to exec producer Katims and Rosie's people, there might a little stunt casting in the show's future. Would it take you out of the reality of the show to have Trump's nemesis yelling at Kyle Chandler? Tell us what you think in the comments.