The previous post in Filling the void dealt with the two shows I felt had the most depth and realism to genuinely fill the gap left by the passing of "the two best shows to ever air on television ever".

Today I'm going to be offering a slightly lighter pair. One of which is well established, but I don't hear too much about these days and the other I've honestly had a sort of on again off again relationship with - but I'm definately 'on' with it these days.

Rescue Me:
(Currently 4 seasons have aired, the fifth is due in March 2009 and will be 22 Episodes long)

Rescue Me (Which I keep typoing as Rescume) first aired on FX in 2004, it's been on my radar for quite a while - it stars Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin a New York firefighter still haunted with the repercussions of 9/11 where he lost his best friend and cousin Jimmy Keefe. Tommy is a somewhat haunted character, both figuratively and literally. In a Six Feet Under style twist he often has conversations with the now deceased Jimmy and sometimes even the phantoms of other desceased people.

It's hard to truely suggest that Rescue Me will give you the same level of satisfaction as watching The Shield and The Wire does, but I can honestly say that it's about as entertaining as Weeds, Burn Notice and Six Feet Under, it seems to operate in around that level of depth. Semi-realistic characters, slightly unrealistic situations and a large dollop of somewhat black humour. Kind of semi-light entertainment with an edge.

Now I've only seen the first season so far, but I very much enjoyed watching it and I fully intend to pick up the other three seasons on DVD with the plan of being up to speed by the time the fifth season airs. It's pretty enjoyable overall and will pass the time decently enough while you're waiting for the next dickensian masterpiece to arrive on our small screens.

Plus it has Callie Thorne in it!

Life:
(Second season currently halfway through)

Now Life is something I really have had a somewhat tumulous relationship with, I loved the first season and was very disappointed that the writer's strike cut it short. But the last few episodes of that season were just so amazing I couldn't wait for it to come back.

Then season two arrived and the show was all over the place, Damien Lewis was just as fantastic as always - but one man does not make a show alone. The plots were exceptionally stand alone and apart from the occasionally brilliant macabre image or sharp joke many of them fell flat. A couple of the episodes were so annoying that I just couldn't stand to watch them (especially the one with the rich kid and the motorbike, I hated that one). So I shelved the show and decided to not try watching it until both Dexter and The Shield had finished.

After putting a little distance between myself and the start of the season I then sat down to marathon watch the back six or seven episodes that ran up to the Christmas break. I don't know if the time away helped, but the show had certainly returned to form. The characters were clicking better the plots were interesting and there was a large amount of the very interesting conspiracy moments. The show just began to work and Damien wasn't the only horse carrying the cart anymore.

By the time the mid season mini-finale aired the show had returned to the same level of quality it held this time last year. Life has managed to be fast, fun, clever and witty before now but once Trapdoor arrived everything hit another level beyond anything the show had previously demonstrated. I'm really looking forward to Life returning and I've already forgiven it for it's rocky start this season.

You can also read my Why You Should Watch... feature on the show for an earlier take on things and some additional information about the cast and so forth.

More potentially filling shows soon!