Rescue Me is turning up the heat.  Oddly, though, there seems to be fewer fires.  Instead, the series, now in its fifth season, continues to focus its attention on tawdry, sex-fueled plotlines.  The May 19^th episode is a prime example of the show’s preoccupation with ridiculous smut.  For graphic sexual content, Rescue Me (Tuesdays, 10 p.m.) has been named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.   

Already this season, Tommy Gavin (played by Denis Leary) and his ex-wife, Janet, have practically begged their nineteen-year-old daughter to sleep with her boyfriend even though they’ve decided to wait until marriage.  When the young couple finally succumbs to the pressure, the boyfriend is disturbed by how experienced she is in bed, effectively destroying the relationship.  Meanwhile, Janet has a new man in her life – Dwight, a paraplegic former extreme athlete played by Michael J. Fox.  She delights in telling Tommy that Dwight has a large penis and can last for hours before climaxing since he’s lost some sensation below the waist. 

In this particular episode, Tommy and Janet take an overnight trip to their daughter’s boarding school to watch her act in the school play.  During the drive up, they celebrate the fact that their daughter broke up with her boyfriend after they had sex. “So our plan worked...” Tommy gloats, “Maybe she was just really bad at it.”

                 “That's not a possibility,” Janet replies.

                 “Why?”

                 “Cause I taught her a few things,” Janet says matter-of-factly.

The conversation eventually shifts to Dwight.  Tommy asks Janet to sum up her attraction to him in one word.  Her response: “c**k.”

Later, at the bed-and-breakfast, Tommy and Janet sit down to dinner with some of the other parents whose children also attend the boarding school.  Tommy and Janet quickly tire of their snobby attitudes.  Janet drinks too much and insults one of the mothers.  In her defense, Tommy proclaims, “My wife doesn't tend to get s**t-faced a lot, but if she does get s**t-faced she usually has a good g*damn reason.”

Once back in their room, Tommy reacts to Janet’s sheer pajama top.  Soon, Tommy and Janet are having raucous sex against one of the antique dressers.  After they break one of the drawers, they move to the floor where Janet screams loudly while she is on top of Tommy.  By now, the other guests have surrounded Tommy and Janet’s room.  Tommy pins Janet against the door as she straddles him.  Tommy thrusts so hard that they break the door down and land in the middle of the hallway where the guests look on in disbelief.  Tommy has the audacity to chide one of the guests for staring. 

This explicit sex scene was raunchy enough as it is, but the episode went one step further.  In a completely superfluous subplot, Tommy’s sister, Maggie, visits with an elderly veteran in the hospital.  As she tells him about the time she played a nurse during a local production of South Pacific, the old man slips his hands underneath his blanket and starts playing with himself.  When Maggie asks if he’s masturbating, he replies, “I’m trying.”  Maggie’s reaction is utterly perplexing. 

“Well, at least let me turn my back,” she says as he gleefully continues to masturbate. 

It is sad to think how low this series will stoop.  Clearly, nothing is sacred in a show where parents discourage abstinence, where paraplegic sex is treated like a fetish, and old men masturbating in front of you counts as volunteer work.  Sure, the heat is being turned up.  But, unfortunately, cheap sex for cheap laughs fuel this fire.

For explicit sexual content, Rescue Me has been named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

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