Kay McFadden / Times staff columnist
Raw, loving look at firefighters' lives

FX Denis Leary is superb as Manhattan firefighter Tommy Gavin in the new FX series "Rescue Me," which he also co-created.

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It's easy to make a show about firefighters into a prolonged metaphor for everything that's gone wrong in the great big world since 9-11.

But that's merely the launching pad for FX's brilliant, gutsy new series "Rescue Me," which debuts tonight at 10.

Beginning with the persistent specter of 9-11, this one-hour series turns a universal tragedy into an exploration of faith, fear and courage. "Rescue Me" is a modern, full-blooded take on what it means to be a man.

The series stars the acidic actor Denis Leary, who also is co-creator. Leary has had a deep empathy with firefighters since a multiple-death calamity in his native Worcester, Mass. His foundation has raised more than $5 million for departments in Worcester, Boston and New York, and he clearly wants to pay tribute to the profession.

It is to his great credit that he, co-producer Peter Tolan and the writers accomplish so much more.

Leary portrays Tommy Gavin, a senior firefighter trying to cope with the stresses common to his profession. He is separated from his wife and three children and lost his cousin and best friend, Jimmy, in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Jimmy, however, won't go away. The elevation of "Rescue Me" from generic TV drama to a work of art starts when you realize Tommy is having regular conversations with an imaginary Jimmy, or perhaps his ghost.

These tortured confessionals stand in stark contrast to the facade that Tommy Gavin maintains among co-workers. The inside of a New York City firehouse, with its crude banter and challenging forms of camaraderie, gets a rough, raw and loving treatment here. The firefighting scenes are a grotesque, vivid blend of the real and surreal.

Fans of visceral FX series like "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck" won't be shocked. What may surprise them is the vulnerability of "Rescue Me."

In the jaw-dropping second episode, the definition of masculinity is probed in a shocking incident between a gay firefighter and Tommy's chief, Jerry Reilly (Jack McGee). At the same time, a hilarious conversation about the definition of "metrosexual" and one firefighter's experiment with a bikini wax introduce more complexity into this male bastion.
 
What of the women? They're not exactly presented in loving fashion.

Tommy's estranged wife, Janet (Andrea Roth), is a cipher, and another firefighter, who not-so-secretly writes poetry, is dealt a chilling hand by his spouse in Episode Three.

Still, hints of misogyny have to be balanced by two factors. The females in "Rescue Me" command power and respect.

The series has some flaws. It uses flashback images of people who have died in fires too often, diluting the effect. Amid a great cast, Roth's Janet is a little too polished.

Leary is superb. His years as an actor have brought him to a new skill level.

"Rescue Me" will have to compete in its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot with CBS' "CSI: New York" and NBC's "Law & Order."

With luck, you'll be hook-and-laddered on it by then.

Kay McFadden: kmcfadden@seattletimes.com