FX has decided to end their Rescue Me series after seven seasons and 93 episodes. The show will go out as it began; closely tied to the events of 9/11.
Rescue Me follows Denis Leary as a hard-living New York fireman who balances the challenges of his stressful job and crazy personal life. The series also features the talents of Diane Farr, Adam Ferrara, Mike Lombardi, James McCaffrey, Jack McGee, Tatum O’Neal, Steven Pasquale, Andrea Roth, John Scurti, Daniel Sunjata, Larenz Tate, Callie Thorne, and Dean Winters.
Though it’s still a high-profile show for FX, Rescue Me’s numbers aren’t nearly as strong as they once were. The first two seasons averaged about 2.7 million viewers per episode. The fifth season has been averaging about 1.4 million and 914,000 in the 18-49 demographic. Variety reports that’s a 38% decline from season four.
The drop in viewership likely comes as a result of the show being off the air for an extended period of time. There was a gap of 18 months between the end of season four and the start of season five, largely due to the writers strike. A series of webisodes were released in 2008 in an attempt to bridge the gap.
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In February, months before the premiere of year five, FX announced that Rescue Me had already been renewed for a sixth season of 18 episodes.
Of the early renewal, FX’s President and General Manager John Landgraf said, “Rescue Me is one of the very best series on television and a tentpole program for FX. We’re amazed by the quality of episodes for the upcoming fifth season, which are some of the best they’ve ever produced. I believe this show will continue to maintain a level of excellence for several years to come, and we’re thrilled to pick it up for a sixth season.”
Now that the network has seen the numbers for season five, it seems their enthusiasm has waned and have decided to make the next round the show’s last. But, instead of 18 episodes as previously planned, the final group of episodes has been increased to 19. The extra installment will presumably be used to cap off the series.
Rather than airing all 19 episodes together, the new plan is to break them up into two smaller seasons. Season six will air in 2010 while season seven will be held until 2011. Peter Tolan, the show’s co-creator, says the plan is to run the final episodes to coincide with the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.
Of the final episodes, Tolan told TV Guide that Maura Tierney, who’s featured prominently in next week’s season finale, may pop up for the final episodes. He said, “We loved working with her — that was kind of a big deal to get her… She’s got Parenthood, but I think we have a deal where we can use her for four episodes. And since we have that deal, we will take advantage of it.”
What do you think? Will you be sorry to see Tommy Gavin and the other characters go? How would you like to see the show end?
Image courtesy FX.
We love Rescue Me….we discovered it on NetFlix…watched every episode and finally caught up to the last season….now we are finding out that it will not be renewed…what a disappointment! I don’t understand why there is such a lag time between seasons….that is when you loose your viewership…We don’t get interested in any series anymore because if we get excited about a series, it will leave the air in 2 years….so we wait until they are camceled, then if there are enough seasons to watch, we will then netflix them. It is too bad that the networks are hurting themselves… Read more »
The ONLY reason I watch FX is because of rescue me!!! I’ve been looking forward to see what season 8 would bring it seems to just keep getting better to drop the show and leave off here would be a shame.
Seeing as how FX is a part of Fox, some of this comes as no surprise. It’s definitely not a surprise for the sixth season to morph into two seasons as this gives them more chances to make money. As evidence of this, just look at Rescue Me’s Season 5. Season 5 was longer than each of the previous four season, 22 episodes to 13 episodes each for Seasons 1-4. And when it came time to release Season 5 on DVD, the customers whom they “value” so much were treated to a TWO-SET release. Two opportunities to spend money, and… Read more »
Man, whats going on !Please dont cancel. Here in Australia i have only discovered this show about 2 months ago, and been tracking down all the past episodes and its the only thing i watch on tv now. One of the best all time shows i have watched, even to put it against the sopranos and thats saying something. I am now spreadang the word and have many people watching it and they all love it. Do not understand why a major network has not picked it up. One reason i guess is that it would be impossible to put… Read more »
I got into the show and it is a great action show with a very strange and out there family problems… But Tommy has never been sober but has been for awhile now and him and sheila just are going to kill each other and they still will… Janet has always stood by Tommy even when they fought… Janet is still in love with Tommy as she always has been and always will be and the fact that Tommy and sheila didnt sleep together they should have them fight and make up and get ride of sheila… I still hope… Read more »
I dont want the show to END!!!! I hate that when you find a show that you like they end just like friends but they had a longer run and so should rescue me!!! But Just end it with Tommy and Janet still working out…. Tommy has cleaned up his act still has a attraction for shelia but she is just crazy dont like her, but I think he knows what janet means to him and the kids so I think them being together with there whole hearts I think they should keep them together…. They have a disfuncitional relationship… Read more »
I am very dissapointed to see the show end.It is the best show on TV especially on a Tuesday..Please someone keep it going!!!!!!!!!! I WILL tune it for it!
please , everybody, write an email or something to keep this show on. denis leary is a genius .anyone whos seen his standup would know. icant believe shows llike this are getting cancelled.
This stuff pisses me off more than just about anything when will these douche bags understand that TV is dead and you can not base the fate of TV shows anymore on ratings. because people do not watch tv shows anymore on tvs they watch them on the internet. if they did a study on how many people have watched rescue me on the internet the numbers would go up. besides that its on FX at 10:00 if it was on Fox or ABC more people would watch this. it is also on during the Summer when people are away… Read more »
the “non-networks” push the envelope & make tv interesting again. in plain site, sons of anarchy, rescue me & the cancelled saving grace. “network tv” is sooooooooooo lame, dating shows, get real, like i really want to watch 12 people battle it out & humiliate themselves in public to possible marry somebody they’ve known for maybe 12 weeks. i guess after the above shows are cancelled, as they more than likely will since they run in the summer when most people are on vacation or spending time outside, i will be watching hgtv & animal planet. WAKE UP & SMELL… Read more »
I watch a lot of TV and this is by far the best television show on the are and I haven’t see anthing this good since Six Feet Under and the Sopranos. It makes you laugh and cry. I hope there is a way to save this program. Maybe a letter writting campaign to FX will save this program. Let’s get it going Rescue Me fans!!!!!!!!! It’s been known to work in the past.
Being a volunteer fire fighter, and this being the only show on TV that I know of that has fire fighting as a huge part, I’ll be extremely sad to see this show go, like many, I really only watch FX because of this show. I truly believe that you did not push this show enough and that’s why you saw such a drastic decrease in viewers I don’t see commercials for the show as a whole, just for the next episode get Leary on SNL or something of the like and talk about it, maybe it can be like… Read more »
I love Rescue Me! My husband and I watch it all the time. We will be so sad to see it go, however it must be challenging to find new ways to wow us! Thanks for the years of most excellent service. Dennis Leary, my hat’s off to you, and your extraordinary cast. Simply Brillant!!!!!
I feel FX has dropped the ball on this one! I noticed already they are showing reruns of Sons of Anarchy on Saturday nights. Where were the rescue me reruns!!!!! No promotion ,no reruns, short seasons. FX are you trying to make this show fail. Please! One of the best kept secrets on TV. Before you cancel it at least try to promote it a little better! I have probably brought on more viewers with my talk about it than you have! Really, I also only watch fx for this show. No more if it ends. Listen up big networks,… Read more »
The only reason this show isn’t as big as it should be, is because it’s NOT on a major network and it only runs in the summer. It needs to be picked up by a major network and run on a traditional fall schedule. The show is that good. I don’t get it. It’s the only show I watch on FX. If they cancel it, I have absolutely no reason to tune in to that channel. They should really try and sell it to either CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox. There is no other TV program out there right now… Read more »
You should try Sons of Anarchy, also on FX. I’m sure that would give you a reason to tune in.