It was recently reported that Denis Leary is co-writing and producing an American version of the upcoming British comedy Sirens. The British televsion show is based on the popular EMS book Blood, Sweat, and Tea
There have been some conflicting reports over whether the half hour show is a comedy or a drama. If the poster for the UK version is any indication, I think it is safe to guess that it will be a comedy.
Personally I think Denis Leary is a great choice to produce and co-write this show. Leary’s soon ending fire based drama Rescue Me proved two important things. He has a passion for the work we do and I firmly believe that he genuinely respects it. Leary himself is no stranger to the flaws of being human and he has had no problem portraying that in his work on Rescue Me. Hopefully he won’t hold back on that for Sirens.
I’m going to make a couple predictions here… there are some people who will undoubtedly scowl or put the show down because of the human elements Leary will work in. They will claim that it portrays EMS as “unprofessional” and “in a bad light”, similar to the claims that some fire groups made about Rescue Me. Notice how they won’t be calling it “inaccurate” or “ludicrous”, the same criticism that was leveled after the faux heroics of NBC’s Trauma aired. There will be a reason for that… because we deserve it for continuing to try and sweep the emotional and social wreckage this profession causes amongst its providers under the proverbial rug. EMS isn’t all peaches and cream, of this I assure you.
Here’s a trailer for the UK version of the show to give you an idea of what we have to look forward to…
So do you think Denis Leary is going to raise the public’s consciousness (for good or for bad) about EMS or will his show fail like all those before it?
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I personally hate it when they make shows about EMS. You know why? It’s because all we will hear is bitching from Holier than Thou EMT’s about how ludicrous, inaccurate, degrading, etc. the show is and you will see on Twitter, Facebook and Blogs petitions for immediate removal of the show as it is offensive to our trade.
I personally loved the show Trauma. To me it made fun of what I find humorous on a shift and had characters doing stuff I actually want to do at times like shove a cheeseburger down a fat loads throat. I then have to listen to the moral Ricky Rescue’s who think I am a horrible medic and need to find a new profession cause I find it funny. You know, those people that run four calls a year and think they are EMS Gods. The ones not exposed to trash day after day, shift after shift.
Sure, the acting in that hsow was sub par and the story lines stupid but come on, you had to love Tyler the gay EMT. How many of us have worked with a dude just like that? How many things did Rabbit do that you really always wanted to do but your common sense told you that you would get fired and sued if you did? Yeah, this was fantasy. Who ever said it was “reality” TV. Hell even Emergency which is revered was about as non-realistic when it ran.
If this show comes about and Dennis Leary does write it, I could only hope that it is written with his humor and philosophy. I really enjoy his comedy and would love to see it on the screen. He is a very good writer, he does truly care about the Fire/EMS field and probably has done as much for the industry as any media production. Of course if it is written with his style of humor, we will be back here listening to all the bitching and moaning about how our industry has been set back 20 years and no one will ever take us seriously in the medical profession.
Hey, this sort of sounded like a Dennis Leary rant.
I completely understand what you’re saying here Steve.
I have to be completely honest, I hated Trauma when it first aired. To me
the pilot was beyond unrealistic and continued to show what most consider
the “neat” side of the job… traumas, life saves, big explosions and of
course helicopters. I think around episode 4 or so it turned to be a little
less bling-bling and a bit more within at least the realm of reality.
Unfortunately by then I think most providers had already given up on it, as
had the general public so it was doomed.
I don’t think any show can set us back 20 years… I think we do that very
well ourselves when we ignore the reality of the underside in an industry
and solely promote the bling-bling.
Personally I’m looking forward to seeing Leary’s take on it. I think he made
a difference for the fire service by humanizing them, which perhaps is not
what they collectively wanted. I think if he humanizes EMS the same way, it
will actually raise our industry up a bit from where the public perceives us
now.
I am counting on you to help me get case in a minor speaking role or at the least an extra … I could probably do a good job playing a dead guy.
You can have the speaking role… I’ll play the dead guy! My rigor is second only to my uncanny ability to have a syncope epsiode anywhere…
I’m looking forward to it. I would like see the UK version as well.
The UK version has the same guy who plays Rob Stark in Game of Thrones, so
yeah, I’d be totally down to see that version as well.