FX drama 'Rescue Me' ends near somber anniversary

[January 17, 2011]  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- The FX firefighters' drama "Rescue Me" will end its seven-year run less than a week before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

FX President John Landgraf said Saturday that the Sept. 6 finale date was chosen intentionally. The series, with Denis Leary as the star and co-creator, is a story about New York firefighters dealing with the grief of losing friends and relatives in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

"It seemed appropriate not to air it on the day," he said, "because there are more solemn and appropriate things to do on the day. The weeks surrounding the day seemed to be the appropriate place to do it."

The end of the series will deal on some level with a catharsis that comes at the end of the grieving period, he said.

Leary's character Tommy, whose best-friend cousin died at ground zero, saw some of his wounds reopen at one point in "Rescue Me" when a journalist appeared to research the tragedy for a 10th anniversary book.

Landgraf said the series has been a real milestone for FX, which has only been around as a television network for a decade. Its quality and distinctiveness set a tone, he said.

"It's hard to find that kind of a show," he said.

[Associated Press; By DAVID BAUDER]

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