The homes featured in hit shows "Seinfeld" and "Rescue Me" were destroyed in New York City by Hurricane Sandy on Monday.

The northeast was slammed by winds and torrential rain as the storm, which was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, made landfall, causing major flooding and widespread power outages.

Last night, more than 200 firefighters were called to a neighborhood in Rockaway, Queens, to put out a huge blaze that engulfed at least 50 homes by the time it was contained.

Some of the properties devastated include residences featured in Jerry Seinfeld's "Seinfeld," Denis Leary...

If you catch the new Amanda Seyfried thriller Gone this weekend, you'll catch another interesting actor: Sam Upton. Who is he? An incredibly versatile player.

In Gone, Upton plays McKay, one of the police officers that Jill (Seyfried) turns to in order to catch the serial killer who once came after her and has now targeted her sister. The flick has a cast of names that TV buffs will adore, from Dexter star Jennifer Carpenter to Justified boss Nick Searcy, but don't overlook the affable Upton, who recently chatted with me about the film and the many other interests he has.

Let's start at t...

"American Top Gear."

It's a phrase that's struck dread in the hearts of many for years. Fans of the hit BBC series - those of us sitting at home with our Jeremy Clarkson books and 'I Am The Stig' T-shirts, and yes, I am one - have heard rumblings about a US import and almost immediately worried one would go south (see: the American adaptation of Coupling, etc.) Yet after a false start (a busted NBC pilot hosted by Adam Carolla), History Channel made the concept a reality two years ago.

And guess what? It's not a nightmare. In fact, it's pretty good.

The cynics - and yes, I was one - are ...

Veteran actor Kevin Chapman is one of the stars of CBS' new hit Person of Interest, but that's just scratching the surface of his lengthy resume.

Chapman plays Detective Lionel Fusco, a corrupt cop who functions as an NYPD source for John Reese (Jim Caviezel). It's a role that has brought Chapman some much-deserved attention. But die-hard TV fans will have seen his face a dozen times before.

It was Chapman who brought real menace (and yet, surprising humanity on at least one occasion) to the role of an Irish mob boss on Showtime's underrated drama series Brotherhood. He's also appeared on...

Ask the typical American to name 20 currently airing primetime television shows and they probably can't without doing some serious thinking. They'd probably even ramble off a few that were cancelled during the year or the year before without even realizing it.

In 2011 a myriad of television shows come to an end with over 80 leaving the airwaves, most of which you probably never even heard of (some were so small we didn't even include them in this year-end roundup).

Some had tearful goodbyes after long runs (Oprah, Big Love, Rescue Me), and others were canceled so fast we hardly even knew ...

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 has been something the characters on Rescue Me have anticipated with trepidation. Now that it’s here, the show concludes its final season. Denis Leary met with the Television Critics Association over the summer to discuss the final episode, the real life issues still being addressed, and his role in next summer’s blockbuster The Amazing Spider-Man.

Leary began as a ranting stand-up comic with a huge presence on MTV. Now that he’s also had success as a comic and dramatic actor, he hasn’t lost any of his bite. Wrapping up his FX series seems both practical and s...

After spending some time with FOX, my TCA (Television Critics Association) blog comes to an end with a look at sister network FX, which brought to Beverly Hills four returning series and a new one. Not to mention one big moment that I may unfortunately never be able to get out of my brain.

Executive Session

Last time we talked about FX, I mentioned that I have a great deal of respect for network president John Landgraf. I was certainly happy to hear the announcement Saturday morning that Landgraf, who's been with FX for more than seven years, had renewed his contract for three more. He'...

Following our earlier peeks at New Girl and The X Factor, it's time to talk about two new FOX comedies and one show we've been hearing about for what seems like forever. FOX's TCA (Television Critics Association) presentation continued with looks at Allen Gregory, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Terra Nova, and the network's upcoming presentation of the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Allen Gregory

It was a case of deja vu: once again, FOX used a themed lunch to show us a new Sunday animated comedy. Last year, it was Bob's Burgers. This year, it was Allen Gregory. It's always struck me as a bit stra...

With the dark world of Rescue Me coming to a close after this summer, Denis Leary and Jim Serpico are staying in the hero business, but this time, they're going for laughs. The duo is partnering with USA network to develop and co-write a half-hour comedy pilot based on Sirens, a highly anticipated British series about young paramedics. Plus, SheKnows has a Rescue Me tease from Callie Thorne!

Comedian Denis Leary took a break from the laughs when 911 inspired him to co-create and star in the fiery world of Rescue Me back in 2004. With his intense eight-season run as damaged fireman Tommy ...

As much as you should be going to the beach, catching a hot concert or spending time with friends at outdoor barbeques this summer, there is also a lot going on indoors too. We’re talking about what’s going on inside on the television. Summer television shows aren’t always about the addicting and sometimes laughable reality programs since stations like TNT and USA have stepped up their game with shows like The Closer and Burn Notice. As much as we were anticipating the return of Mad Men this summer only to be disappointed by the news that the premiere is delayed until 2012, we found a few m...

The last day of the TCA (Television Critics Association) Winter/Spring 2011 press tour was the one I'd had circled on my calendar, because it was all about FX. I have really fallen in love with this network and the people behind it over the past year. They gave me the highlight of my trip: a panel devoted to one of my all-time favorite series (Justified), putting me in the same room with one of my all-time favorite actors (Timothy Olyphant). I'll geek out about that later, though. First, let's talk about what else the cable net has up its sleeve...

Executive Session

I gained an enormous a...

Denis Leary is heeding wildlife warnings around his Connecticut home after a surprise run-in with a wild black bear left him "screaming like an eight-year-old girl".

The Rescue Me star lives in rustic Roxbury with his wife Ann and the couple's two kids - but he never took strong warnings from neighbors about local wildlife seriously - until he was scared senseless by a recent encounter.

Leary reveals he had stepped out in his underwear for a morning coffee and a cigarette with his dogs when he saw a giant beast waiting in his driveway.
He says, "5:30 on a Sunday morning about a month ago....

Actress Maura Tierney is returning to the small screen after finishing treatment for breast cancer.

The former ER star was forced to walk away from TV drama Rescue Me after she was diagnosed with the disease last year. But, now she's putting her cancer battle behind her as she gets back to work on the show as Denis Leary's love interest.

Her rep tells TVGuide.com, "(Tierney) has finished treatment and is doing very well and is happy to move forward with the next phase of her life."

The actress has already filmed scenes for the program, which will air next year.

TV star Andrea Roth is a new mom after welcoming a baby girl. The Rescue Me actress gave birth to daughter Ava Reese on Monday at Pennsylvania Hospital, according to People.com.

The new arrival, who weighed six pounds, 14 ounces, is the first child for Roth and her fiancé, producer Todd Biermann.

Roth's rep says, "Andrea has never been happier. She waited until she met the perfect man to start her family and it couldn't have turned out better as she and her fiancé are the proud parents of a gorgeous baby girl."

Click Here For More Andrea Roth Pictures

Since CNN has such a blast creating a report card to track the Presidency, we decided to have some fun with television. Which networks come out strong and which ones need to do better homework?

MAJOR NETWORKS

ABC: B

The Good: The dramas are what keep us coming back to ABC. Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, FlashForward, and V are worth looking forward to. The one comedy that stands out and may hold itself against NBC's stellar comedies, Modern Family, is worth a few episodes past the pilot.

The Bad: Dancing With The Stars is extremely popular, however sometimes too much of a ...

Tina Fey's 30 Rock and hit TV series Mad Men stole the show at the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, receiving top honors on Sunday's event.

30 Rock creator Fey and co-stars Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan claimed their third consecutive trophy for Outstanding Comedy Series, while Mad Men was a repeat winner for Outstanding Drama Series.

Fey's series was an Emmy favorite, landing a whopping 22 nominations in 2009 after stealing the show at last year's ceremony. Baldwin defended his title as the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy, although Fey failed to secure a second win for Outstan...

There's a scene in Back to the Future Part II where Marty McFly's future son walks up to his massive 2015 wall mounted television and watches six channels at once ("OK, I want channels 18, 24, 63, 109, 87 and the Weather Channel"). Twenty years ago, with the rise of cable television, this is how we imagined television of the future: all at once with too many channels to choose from. But like most of the future tech in 2015 Hill Valley, real technology didn't quite go in that direction.

Here in 2009, the way we watch television is developing around a collective desire to trim some fat fr...

In the past few seasons for network TV, there have been a few shows that were destined for greatness from their very first pilot episodes: Arrested Development, Desperate Housewives, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Lost and The Office.

That's it, that's the list. And of those six shows, one was cancelled due to low ratings ("Arrested Development"), one is on life-support ("Friday Night Lights"), and two were in danger after having lost their way - no pun intended, but "Lost" managed to find its way back while "Heroes" is struggling. "Housewives" still has its foundation of viewers but is...

Michael J. Fox jumped at the chance to play a bitter, drug-addicted character on the TV drama Rescue Me - so he could ditch his reputation as Hollywood's 'Mr. Nice Guy'.

The actor plays the disabled love interest of Janet Gavin, the ex-wife of lead actor Denis Leary's character Tommy Gavin, in the gritty firefighter series, and Fox embraced the idea he'd be playing an ill-tempered bad guy.

He says, "People don't often think of me as a bitter misanthrope, so to get to play one, it's too fun to pass up."

- Click here for more Michael J. Fox pictures -

...

Denis Leary and his Rescue Me cast mates have been given permission to film two episodes of the hard-hitting firefighter drama at Ground Zero.

The crew shot scenes amid the rebuilding effort at the former New York site of the World Trade Center and the Twin Towers, which were hit by planes during a terrorist attack in 2001.

Leary tells WENN, "We're showing where the restoration is at, where they're at with the development of it and where the buildings are at, and the discussion of how the towers will be remembered."

- Click here for more Rescue Me pictures -

...

Denis Leary may be best known now as the star of FX's fireman drama Rescue Me, but children of the '90s remember his comedy rants. He's still got it in him, so when reporters ask him how he goes green for their celebrity puff pieces, he rails against it.

"My goal is to leave this planet with the biggest carbon footprint I can possibly leave," Leary said. "First of all, I have to have trucks because I live most of my time on a horse farm, so I've gotta have trucks. It's in the northeast, I've got to have pickup trucks to move snow, number one. Number two, just if I'm driving, I don't ha...

Rescue Me, FX's acclaimed series starring Denis Leary, will kick off its 22-episode fifth season on Tuesday, April 7th at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and the network placed an order for an additional season.

The 22-episode fifth season will air on FX over 23 weeks, with the season finale scheduled to air Tuesday, September 8.

"Rescue Me" revolves around the lives of the men in a New York City firehouse, the crew of 62 Truck. Examining the fraternal nature and relationships of firefighters, the series tackles the daily drama of the life-and-death situations associated with being a firefighter,...

Actor-turned-author Denis Leary has apologized for his scathing remarks against children suffering with autism - insisting his quotes were taken out of context by the media.

The Rescue Me star sparked outrage among activists for young autism sufferers when an excerpt from his book Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid was printed in a newspaper earlier this month.

In the book, Leary claims some parents use the brain development disorder as an excuse to explain their children's "laziness", and blames the surge in autism on "inattentive mothers and c...

Denis Leary has blasted the press for its coverage of his new lifestyle book, insisting comments he made about children with autism have been taken out of context.

The Rescue Me star sparked outrage among activists for young autism sufferers when an excerpt from Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid was printed in a U.S. newspaper on Wednesday.

In the book, Leary claims parents are using the brain development disorder as an excuse to explain their children's "laziness".

According to the New York Post, in a chapter titled Autism Schmautism, he wr...

Comedian Denis Leary stunned fans at the Fashion Rocks charity concert in New York on Friday by attacking Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and David Duchovny from the stage.

The Rescue Me star hosted the event which coincides with New York Fashion Week, and included performances from Beyoncé Knowles, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey and Rihanna. And Leary left the crowd speechless with a foul-mouthed tirade, mocking Spears' recent breakdown; Martin's newborn twins; and ridiculing Duchovny's stint in rehab for sex addiction, reports the New York Daily News.

He told the audience, "Brit...

Entourage star Jeremy Piven has been forced to deny his "diva" antics cost him the job of hosting a forthcoming fashion event in New York.

The actor hosted Fashion Rocks in 2007 but this year he has been replaced by Rescue Me star Denis Leary - amid rumors that Piven's outlandish demands infuriated staff at last year's event.

A source tells New York Post gossip column PageSix that the star demanded a separate backstage green room and insisted on rewriting the script at the last minute.

The source says, "(Piven) was a nightmare. And it wasn't even funny. (This year will see) a...

The name Michael was the second most popular male baby name in 2007 (followed by Jacob), according to the Social Security Administration. It's one of those names that has a timeless quality, and many celebrities are proud to call it their own. Check out our slideshow of our favorite Michaels:

Michael Caine

Latest film: The Dark Knight

Michael Douglas

Upcoming projects: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Michael J. Fox

Upcoming project: Rescue Me

Michael Keaton

Upcoming project: The Merry Gentle...

Last week, I helped the Emmy panelists decide upon which series to cast their vote for, and now it's the actors' turn.

The Emmy blue ribbon panel received a group of lists from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences last week. These were top ten lists from which they were to select the five nominees for the big Emmy show. They will view select episodes from each nominee and base their decision on what they see.

It's nigh on impossible to glean an accurate impression from a small sample, especially when it comes to acting. Many characters are given complex arcs from which the...

Michael J. Fox is in talks to return to TV as a regular in hit firefighter drama Rescue Me.

The actor, who suffers from nervous disorder Parkinson's Disease, is slated to play Denis Leary's love rival on the show.

If negotiations go as planned, the Back To The Future star will appear in several episodes of the show's upcoming fifth season, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Fox has largely turned his back on acting to become a Parkinson's Disease research advocate.

- Michael J. Fox Gallery

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)

"Rescue Me" fans eager for the fifth season will have to wait until next spring for new episodes (damn that writers' strike!). However, FX is airing 10 "minisodes" of new, original content on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT beginning June 24.

In anticipation of the new minisodes, Starpulse had the opportunity to chat with co-creators/executive producers Denis Leary (who plays Tommy Gavin) and Peter Tolan about the 5-minute episodes and what fans can expect for season five.

One of the major recurring events in Tommy's life is death. Over the past few seasons he's had to deal with the d...