(S05E11) "Tom, would you be able to join us for one of our little fire thingies?" - Needles, after discovering Tommy and Janet having sex in a car in front of the 62 house

We're half-way through season five now and we've reached a point that's going to polarize a lot of fans of this show. Creatively, last night's episode of Rescue Me introduced two things that both have the potential to really turn off certain fans, depending, of course, on what they like about the show and more importantly, what they expect from Rescue Me in future episodes.

So I'm surfing around my TV channels the other night, and I decide to see what channels my digital cable has for me in the higher numbers. I don't mean higher numbers like 80 or 100. I mean way up there, in the 800s. Channel 846, to be exact. It's NBC's Universal HD channel, and what do they show a few times every single night?

The Equalizer!

Oh,  I love this show. The intrigue, the New York City setting, the Stewart Copeland music, the whole 80s vibe. Sure, you can quibble that no one would be afraid of an older man like Robert McCall, but I believe in the character. And the supporting cast! Robert Lansing as Control, Keith Sjarabajka as Mickey (one  of the truly great characters in TV history), Mark Margolis as Jimmy, the veteran operative, Saul Rubinek as the slimy Jason. Check out the link above for the guest cast on this show. It's a who's who of future stars. The episode I'm watching right now, "Torn," has not only Melissa Joan Hart when she was a little girl, it also has Home Improvement's Patricia Richardson in a bit role.

They're making a big-screen version next year. Oh, it's going to suck.