The most popular new programme of the fall season is Fire Country on CBS, which makes sense given that it combines soapy small-town drama with dramatic action. After its fall finale, it will take a winter break, and viewers will have a long wait before the show returns on Friday, Jan. 6.
Max Thieriot, who plays the lead character in the series, was inspired to co-create it after growing up in a region of Northern California that frequently experiences wildfires. In an effort to atone for his past and shorten his term, felon Bode Donovan (Thieriot) enrols in Cal Fire’s prison release firefighting program. He is transported back to his hometown, where he must attempt to mend his bonds with his loved ones, his friends, and himself.
There are plenty more firefighter dramas to choose from if you’ve been enjoying Fire Country and are searching for something to watch while you wait for Season 1 to premiere. In actuality, a fireman drama is now airing on each of the four main broadcast networks; Fire Country is actually a very latecomer to the firefighter party. Those programmes aren’t included on the list because, if you’re reading this, you already know whether or not you like Chicago Fire; you don’t need me to tell you that. Instead, I’m concentrating on some unconventional or older options that include fictitious and actual firefighters, heartfelt small-town drama, and/or Fire Country cast members. So descend the pole while wearing your helmet and start pouring.
Black Bird
The only two shows in the micro-genre where a swole felon accepts an odd duty in order to shorten his term and achieve forgiveness are Fire Country and Black Bird. Taron Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a charismatic guy serving a 10-year federal sentence for drug and gun trafficking, in this true-crime Apple TV+ limited series. He is hired by the FBI to become friends with Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), a fellow prisoner who is suspected of being a serial killer, and get information out of him. Although the production is much darker than Fire Country, the concepts are somewhat similar, and the performances are superb. If you can believe it, Egerton has even more muscle mass than Max Thieriot. Black Bird will become your favourite show if you enjoy watching episodes about guys whose t-shirts are no match for their massive biceps.
Cal Fire
This compelling Discovery documentary series profiles the actual Cal Fire firefighters. The 2020 fire season, one of the worst on record, sees camera crews accompany firefighters as they battle wildfires in Northern and Southern California. Cal Fire is similar to Fire Country in that it respects brave firemen and their families to the point of reverence, allowing them relate their own tales and the memories of the individuals they lost. Additionally, it records their risky fire calls like they’re scenes from an action movie or a Fire Country episode. Interesting fact: Cal Fire, a better title than Fire Country, was initially intended for the TV show Fire Country. However, at some point, the name was changed, possibly because the real Cal Fire organisation is not at all involved in the programme and has actually criticised it for “misrepresenting” the organisation because the show’s trailer depicted a fight between an inmate named Bode and a professional firefighter named Jake (Jordan Calloway), which would never occur in real life.
Fire Chasers
A second Cal Fire documentary series. This one examines the California fire ecosystem more comprehensively, including the impact that climate change plays in the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires, and is less narrowly focused on the bravery of the firefighters. The time Fire Chasers spends with actual Cal Fire prison release firemen is what fans of Fire Country find to be the real lure. Although the program’s ethics are debatable, the female convicts who are featured in the documentary talk movingly of how the programme helped them improve their lives. They find that learning new skills while contributing to the community and the environment is far preferable to incarceration. It depends on what you’re looking for, but in my opinion Fire Chasers is a far better show than Cal Fire because it’s more educational and artistically produced.
Rescue Me
Without Rescue Me, Denis Leary’s post-9/11 FX dramedy about New York City’s Bravest, no list of television programmes about firefighters would be complete. James McCaffery portrays Jimmy Keefe, a fellow fireman who died in the Twin Towers and is now seen in Tommy Gavin’s dreams. Leary plays Tommy Gavin, an Irish American firefighter whose cousin and best friend Jimmy Keefe. The programme combined uncompromising, visceral depictions of loss, survivor’s guilt, and alcoholism with politically incorrect dark humour and some of the most extravagant story turns ever presented in primetime. Rescue Me is the show to watch if you want to see how the same qualities that make someone a brilliant firefighter can also make them a very difficult person to live with as a spouse or parent since it is lot funnier, much crazier, and much more New York than Fire Country. Here, Diane Farr also plays a fireman in addition to her roles as Bode’s mother and Cal Fire Division Chief Sharon Leone in Fire Country.
SEAL Team
Max Thieriot first gained notoriety on the television programme Bates Motel, but SEAL Team set him up for Fire Country. Despite recently leaving the CBS/Paramount+ military drama to focus solely on Fire Country, Thieriot played Navy SEAL Clay Spenser for six seasons. Bode Donovan and Clay Spenser both have comparable personality traits. They are both intelligent, courageous, and prone to being stubborn, but life has humbled them both into becoming more thinking people. Both SEAL Team and Fire Country are character-driven dramas with lots of action about men in perilous careers.
Tacoma FD
Why not check out a fireman comedy once you’ve had your fill of firefighter dramas? A funny workplace sitcom called Tacoma FD is set in a fire station in the wettest city in the country. The firefighters generally spend their time playing practical jokes and getting into mischief because they don’t have much work to do. Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme, two members of the Broken Lizard comedy group who brought the world the cult classic comedies Super Troopers and Beerfest, both created it and star in it. You might enjoy this if you enjoy watching the friendship between the firefighters on Fire Country.
Third Watch
There are no firefighter/first responder procedurals from the present on this list, but I do suggest this one, which, depending on your age, you have either never seen or haven’t seen in about 20 years. In the six seasons of Third Watch, which aired on NBC from 1999 to 2005, a vast and diverse cast of New York City police officers, firefighters, and paramedics were followed in both their personal and professional lives. With a superb ensemble that included Bobby Cannavale, Kim Raver, and Michael Beach, John Wells, the executive producer of ER, gave the frantic pace and sense of jargon-heavy workplace authenticity of that programme a strong shock of blue-collar Big Apple attitude. Third-season episodes of the show famously included the events of 9/11 in their plotlines very immediately. Third Watch is considerably different from Fire Country in terms of tone and style, but it’s still worth re-discovering if you enjoy series that combine dramatic first-responder action with characters who can handle emergencies but struggle with their personal lives.
Virgin River
Virgin River is the show on this list that most closely resembles Fire Country since it is a soapy, easily understandable drama with a small-town setting in rural Northern California. Mel Monroe, played by Alexandra Breckenridge, is a nurse practitioner who relocates from Los Angeles to the isolated town of the same name in quest of a new beginning. In the small, close-knit community, she meets beautiful bar owner and PTSD sufferer Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), as well as a host of other intriguing people. Both Fire Country and Virgin River employ British Columbia to represent Northern California, which is why they resemble one another greatly.
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