Rex Sikes' Movie Beat chats with Rescue Me series co-creator screenwriter/producer Peter Tolan Pt 2

Peter Tolan PT 2 is the man behind the successful FX series “Rescue Me” starring Denis Leary. He began his career writing for sitcoms “Carol & Company” & “Wish You Were Here”. He wrote & co-produced the first six episodes of Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement” & then moved to the hit series “Murphy Brown”, starring Candice Bergen. He worked the series for 3 seasons which resulted in a shared Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1992 as co-producer. Also in 1992 he began writing for Gray Shandling’s “The Larry Sanders Show” on HBO. As the co-executive producer of the series he received 3 CableACE Awards for Comedy Series and he got an Emmy for co-writing with Shandling the series finale episode "Flip".He wrote for the series “Ellen”, “Buddies” & he created the sitcoms “The George Wendt Show” & “Style and Substance”. With comedian Denis Leary Tolan co-created the ABC satiric comedy “The Job”, which also starred Leary as a tough NYPD detective. Though it was cancelled after two seasons it was heralded by the critics. He wrote the hit film “Analyze This” directed by Harold Ramis, starring Robert Deniro & Billy Crystal. He also wrote the sequel “Analyze That”, “My Fellow Americans” starred Jack Lemon, James Garner & Dan Akroyd,“ Bedazzled” starred Brendan Fraser & Elizabeth Hurely,“America’s Sweethearts” starred Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, John Cusak, Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Guess Who” starred Bernie Mac & Ashton Kutcher, “Just Like Heaven” starred Reese Witherspoon & Mark Ruffalo. In 2008 Peter made his directorial debut with the semi-autobiographical film “Finding Amanda” which starred Matthew Broderick & Brittany Snow. He co-created “Rescue Me” with show star Denis Leary which debuted in 2004. This series has been well received by both critics and audiences, & both Peter & Denis have received Emmy nominations. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast & crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, & more at http://www.rexsikes.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.