The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 55

He plays jaded firefighter Tommy Gavin, whose crew lost four men on Sept. 11, including best friend and cousin, Jimmy. Now the firefighters have gone back to their lives and their jobs and no one much cares that today they had to clear an apartment building of a river of urine. As one of comrades complains after a bad date: that I was getting after 11. Now, nothing.

People That indicates some of what Leary and Tolan are up to; they want to honor the men who rushed into the World Trade Center towers but also puncture some of the sanctimony now attached to the badge. This a bad idea, necessarily, to do a serialized story about the firefighters left behind, in a sense. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, network executives and movie studios got busy erasing images of the World Trade Center towers from their product, presumably because it would disturb us. In the years since, however, erasing has been replaced by forgetting and beyond forgetting, a return to the cartoon- violence-for-profit that Sept.11 temporarily halted.

So here comes to remind us. Psychically, the show takes place in the years after the still-smoldering ache Bruce Springsteen sang about on his album character is a fine mess: back on the bottle, seeing ghosts (he has regular conversations with his dead cousin), and his estranged wife, feeling stifled by their neighborhood of firefighters, is threatening to move the kids away. know worse than all the guys that died that she tells Tommy. rest of you left behind, walking around like fine. When dead That last a little ouchy.

Meanwhile, Leary an interesting enough actor to make us forget the more earnest intentions. Jimmy, speaking from the grave, so much haunt Tommy as act as a kind of therapist. long-term relationship has the same underlying engine no matter what the sexual affiliation might Jimmy tells him, after a firefighter comes out as gay in the New York Post. Was it Feet that jump-started this relationship talk by the dead? Or was it Dr. all of the tumult in life adds up to a new setting for Leary boilerplate: the tough, sarcastic exterior masking the 101 ways hurting inside and screwing up his life.

Since moving away from stand-up comedy, Leary has been trying to graft depth onto the raging stage persona. There were movies like (yay) and If by (boo). Leary and Tolan would have been better off turning into the first post-Sept. 11 TV comedy about the world, post-Sept. 11.

They have the jokes in them, the skewed point of view, and Tolan, particularly, is the kind of pro who can balance our sympathies while revealing the foibles in people; he was an executive producer of arguably the best series ever about show business, Larry Sanders on HBO. To that end, there are some quietly comic moments in A fire chief (Jack McGee) wipes the soot off the TV in a smoldering apartment to check the score of a football game bet on. And when another member of the crew begins writing poetry to get his feelings out, the storyline gets turned inside-out when he shows the poetry to his wife. a wonderful, layered scene in a show that quite sustain its nobler intentions. Offstage, Leary has worked for the cause he started a charity, the Leary Firefighters Foundation and has raised money for the New York Fire Department.

Clearly, he cares about firefighters and knows them, knows the cadence of their speech, what matters to them. But feels like a misguided gesture of goodwill one that serves vanity in addition to his heart. FX Network BRAVEST: Denis Leary plays a jaded New York firefighter grappling with everyday life post-Sept. 11 in Honor, darkened humor in from Page E1 E12 LOSANGELESTIMES latest client is running out of time. An admitted felon caught robbing graves, now been accused of murder.

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Viewership is listed in millions. Program Network View- ersProgram Network Viewers 1 Baseball 2 CSICBS13.95 3 CSI: MiamiCBS13.27 4 Without a TraceCBS12.31 5 Cold CaseCBS11.94 --------------------------------------------6 60 MinutesCBS11.46 7 8 60 Minutes IICBS11.00 9 Law OrderNBC10.77 10 Two and a Half MenCBS10.76 --------------------------------------------11 Amazing Race: 5CBS10.50 12 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (9 p.m.) ABC10.29 13 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS10.17 14 Law Order: SVUNBC10.13 15 Navy NCISCBS9.30 --------------------------------------------16 Music 17 Law Order (9 p.m.)NBC9.16 18 Simple Life 2FOX8.95 19 20 Big Brother 5 --------------------------------------------21 Big Brother 5 22 Crossing JordanNBC8.33 23 24 Law Order: Criminal Intent NBC7.97 25 Fear FactorNBC7.83 --------------------------------------------26 CSI: Miami 27 Last Comic Standing 2NBC7.61 28 Dateline: NBC 29 Who Wants to Marry My Dad NBC7.36 30 For Love or Money 4NBC7.28 --------------------------------------------31 Still StandingCBS7.18 32 Yes, DearCBS6.99 33 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC6.78 34 Funniest Home Videos ABC6.56 35 According to JimABC6.55 --------------------------------------------36 The DaysABC6.53 37 My Wife Kids 8:30 p.m.) ABC6.45 38 Will Grace (8 p.m.)NBC6.37 39 Cops (8:30 p.m.)FOX6.35 40 Will Grace (9:30 p.m.)NBC6.24 --------------------------------------------41 Will Grace (8:30 p.m.)NBC6.23 42 Will Grace (9 p.m.)NBC6.21 43 8 Simple RulesABC6.13 44 Las Vegas 45 Method and RedFOX5.93 --------------------------------------------46 Primetime ThursdayABC5.90 47 NYPD 48 Most WantedFOX5.86 49 The SimpsonsFOX5.83 50 That ShowFOX5.82 --------------------------------------------51 My Wife and Kids 8 p.m.) ABC5.81 52 Last Comic Standing (8 p.m.) NBC5.76 53 48 Hours InvestigatesCBS5.69 54 Less Than PerfectABC5.62 55 ERNBC5.58 --------------------------------------------56 CopsFOX5.50 57 58 WWE 59 QuintupletsFOX5.37 60 George LopezABC5.32 --------------------------------------------61 With HerABC5.24 62 JAGCBS5.21 63 My Wife Kids 64 50th Anniversary ABC5.13 65 George Lopez --------------------------------------------66 Joan of ArcadiaCBS5.00 67 According to Jim 68 Big Brother 5 69 Simple Life 2 70 Wonderful World of Disney ABC4.70 --------------------------------------------71 The Drew Carey Show (9 p.m.) ABC4.61 72 Hope Faith 73 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC4.35 74 WeddingsABC4.25 75 North ShoreFOX4.23 --------------------------------------------76 CasinoFOX4.21 77 Hope Faith 9 p.m.)ABC4.17 78 Married to the KellysABC4.06 Next Action StarNBC4.06 80 Hope Faith 9:30 p.m.) ABC4.00 --------------------------------------------81 Malcolm in the MiddleFOX3.96 82 King of the HillFOX3.86 83 Arrested DevelopmentFOX3.84 84 Stephen Kingdom Hospital ABC3.66 85 SummerlandWB3.54 --------------------------------------------86 The Ultimate Love TestABC3.53 Amazing Race: 5 88 of 89 Crime and Punishment 3NBC3.42 90 Quintuplets --------------------------------------------91 Reba (9:30 p.m.)WB3.28 92 Method and Red 93 North ShoreFOX3.05 94 Bernie MacFOX2.73 95 Half and HalfUPN2.62 --------------------------------------------96 RebaWB2.61 97 GirlfriendsUPN2.60 98 SmallvilleWB2.51 99 Half and HalfUPN2.41 100 Tru CallingFOX2.39 --------------------------------------------101 7th HeavenWB2.34 102 Gilmore GirlsWB2.30 103 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB2.28 One On OneUPN2.28 105 Charmed (9 p.m.)WB2.27 --------------------------------------------106 The JuryFOX2.24 107 EveUPN2.18 108 Smallville (9 p.m.)WB2.14 109 Next Top Model UPN2.12 110 CharmedWB2.09 --------------------------------------------111 Steve Big Time (7:30 p.m.) WB1.99 112 Summerland 113 Jamie KennedyWB1.85 114 All of UsUPN1.81 115 Steve Harvey Big TimeWB1.79 --------------------------------------------116 EnterpriseUPN1.76 117 Enterprise (9 p.m.)UPN1.44 118 Pepsi SmashWB1.33 119 and 120 Grounded for LifeWB1.28 --------------------------------------------121 What I Like About YouWB1.25 Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS8.9412.27 NBC6.6710.31 FOX6.188.92 ABC5.488.43 UPN2.573.23 WB2.203.40 All-Star Game, which barely beat out a Crime Scene rerun to be the most popular television show, do Fox many favors. The game was seen by a shade under 14 million people last Tuesday, according to Nielsen Media Research. slightly better than last year, which was the worst showing for the midseason classic since viewership records started in 1983.

Fox helped much by the poor showing of National League starter Roger Clemens, who put his team in a 6-0 hole in the first inning, making for a less compelling game. An All-Star Game-related event did prove a hit in the cable ratings. coverage Monday of the annual home run derby was the most-watched show of the week among cable channels, drawing an audience of more than 7.7 million viewers. ABC, which had much to smile about lately, was pleased by the 6.5 million who tuned in to the premiere of Sunday. It finished in 36th place among overall viewers, but tied for 18th place among viewers 18 to 49, the ones most networks target.

ABC was also pleased by the second place finish Makeover: Home enjoyed in that demographic. science fiction miniseries continued to perform well, drawing 5.6 million viewers. Sci Fi Channel subsidiary enjoyed its own record breaker with the premiere of The spin- off of the long-running was the sixth- highest rated cable show, attracting just under 4.2 million fantasy fans. Elsewhere, in a summer full of reality programming that has barely stirred the public pulse, the fifth version of looks like a winner. It landed in 11th place.

For the week, CBS averaged 8.9 million viewers, and also edged Fox for domination among viewers ages 18 to 49. NBC averaged 6.7million, Fox had 6.2 million, ABC 5.5 million, UPN 2.6 million and the WB 2.2 million. All-Star snoozer barely tags up ahead of rerun Where: FX When: Premieres 10 p.m. tonight. Regular schedule: 10 p.m.

Wednesdays, with repeats throughout the week. Rating: TV-MA-LVS (may be unsuitable for children under 17, with advisories for language, violence and sexual activity). Denis Leary Gavin Daniel Sunjata Steven Pasquale Garrity John Scurti James McCaffrey Keefe Written, directed and co-created by Peter Tolan. Tolan and Jim Serpico are executive producers. DAYS Pick upyour life on Thursdays.

8 DAYS Complete arts and entertainment listings for Southern California. Pick up your life on Thursdays. Calendar Weekend 04PA022 The Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign is a campaign of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. 50 th ANNIVERSARY.