FX's "Rescue Me" to put out its final fire in 2011

The FX drama, "Rescue Me," that follows both the personal and professional lives of a group of New York City firefighters and stars actor/comedian Denis Leary, will wrap up its 10 year stint in 2011.

According to an article on Variety.com, "New York-shot drama from Sony Television will continue for 19 more episodes after the current season finale airs on Tuesday. It's undetermined how the network will release the final shows, though most likely in two different seasons of 10 and nine episodes, or vice versa. Production on the final episodes begins in September."

Prior to the start of the 5th season of the show, "Rescue Me" was on an 18-month hiatus, courtesy of the writers' strike. Yet, fans of the show were given a special treat. In between seasons, several "minisodes" were shown to tease fans and to cultivate new ones.

The Variety.com article then delved into the accolades Leary has garnered as the star of the series, "Leary, who stars as a hard-drinking conflicted fireman who begins dating the wife of his cousin who died in the World Trade Center, has twice been Emmy nominated for his performance, and once for co-writing with Peter Tolan."

Leary is the executive producer of the show along with Tolan and Jim Serpico.

Yet, even though "Rescue Me's" ratings averaged 1.4 million total viewers and 914,000 in the 18-49 demographic, this was a drop of about 38 percent from the previous season. But, those numbers are expected to increase greatly when DVR and video on demand usage are included.

As for FX finding a suitable replacment for "Rescue Me" following its series finale, the network has proven that it has no problem with procuring original programming, given its recent acquistion of "Lawman," which stars Timothy Olyphant of the 2009 thriller, "A Perfect Getaway," as well as the network greenlighting pilots such as "Terriers" and "Lights Out."