I started watching Denis Leary’s old show, “The Job.” I figured that I would check it out since I am really liking “Rescue Me.” This is EXACTLY the same show. Okay, it is about cops instead of firemen, but other than that it looks like they just re-pitched it after the first one got cancelled. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good show – I just found it amusing how similar they are.

Leary’s character is a married, alcoholic, drug-abusing, city employee hero who has a neurotic girlfriend on the side, a stressful job and a gang of quirky coworkers. Oh yeah, and some of the actors are even the same.

Lenny Clark plays fellow detective Frank Harrigan on TJ and Uncle Teddy on RM.
Diane Farr plays fellow detective Jan Fendrich on TJ and fellow firefighter Laura Miles on RM.
James McCaffrey plays Jeff Larsen on TJ and Jimmy Keefe on RM.

Several of the stories are pretty darn similar too. In fact, some of the same jokes are used – word for word. Does it matter? Not really. Does it prove that good shows get cancelled all the time? Yeah, kinda.