Word has leaked that in an episode for the upcoming season of the FX firefighter drama Rescue Me, the womanizing fireman Franco—one of the show's main characters—espouses theories that 9/11 was an inside job, carried out as part of a neoconservative plot to change the definition of "preemptive attack" and control the world's oil. The Times says that it marks "the first fictional presentation of 9/11 conspiracy theories by a mainstream media company." Star of the show Denis Leary says that the scene is not far off from scenes in actual fire houses "where some of the younger members don’t even have to completely buy into the theory of 9/11 being an inside job, but want to discuss it." more ›

More Rescue Me for Next Season more ›

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week:
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A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: more ›

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute. more ›

Gothamist is a big fan of the FX show, Rescue Me - it's incredibly funny, realistic, and riveting but also difficult to watch. And last week's episode was no different, as Denis Leary's character may or may not have raped his estranged wife in the final scenes. The ambiguous scene, where firefighter Tommy Gavin overpowers his wife into having sex (she protests some, but seems to have enjoyed it by the end; he leaves with a smirk), has prompted a lot of debate in the news. And executive producer Peter Tolan even went to the Television Without Pity messageboards to explain and defend the scene. We were distressed by the scene, but it seemed to work with Tommy's overall moral depravity and lack of control when it comes to his personal life (another recent example - Tommy beating his brother to a pulp over said estranged wife in front of his children). And while some critics say the show is merciless towards women, it's actually merciless towards everyone. more ›

Gothamist caught last week’s performance of the “revival” of John Flynn’s Dances with Pitchforks and can’t stop talking about how good it is. Flynn’s tale of being a chorus boy in a Millburn, New Jersey regional production of Gypsy that featured über-diva and Eight is Enough stepmother Betty Buckley is too good to be true. And yet it is. AND on top of Betty Buckley the production featured the electric youthfulness of Deborah, neé Debbie Gibson. The show serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when you talk shit behind a leading lady’s back and also how that might just be the best method of building buzz around a Millburn, New Jersey regional production of Gypsy. more ›

While it's all about the season premieres this month, there's one season finale tonight that we're excited about. Gothamist has really gotten into watching Rescue Me, catching up on this season by watching the first season DVD, and we've been loving it. Rescue Me is profane, racist, questionable, hilarious, sweet and tragic, with characters that seem like real people and less like stereotypes networks revert to because that'll make advertisers happy (probably why it's on FX). And it's shot in New York; Gothamist remembers reading how Denis Leary paid a Mr. Softee truck driver to stop playing the song...only to have more Mr. Softee trucks come to the location, looking for some easy money. The second season finale is at 10PM on FX and looks to be distressing and disturbing; we originally thought it'd be dark to counterbalance watching The Gilmore Girls, but New York magazine's John Leonard says that season premiere (tonight at 8PM on the WB) is "angry and sad." more ›

Leary is also premiering his new TV show about life in the FDNY, Rescue Me, which tomorrow night on FX. Naturally, there's been a lot of NYC press coverage of it, with a fat feature in the Daily News and Leary told the NY Times in an interview:

There's a backlash in New York right now with firefighters getting arrested for drunk driving and testing positive for drugs. The spotlight was shone on these guys and we thought they were so heroic. But they're just human beings and the tendency for them is to self-medicate rather than go see a psychiatrist so that they can keep going into these buildings and saving people. This is something we're going to deal with in the course of the show.