Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fire Country’ On CBS, Where A Convict Joins A Wildfire Fighting Team To Get A Reduced Sentence

There have been shows about firefighters before, of course. There’s two on network TV right now. But has there ever been a show about firefighters who battle wildfires, something that has been a big story in California in the past decade? And has there been a story about the very real Cal Fire program where convicts are trained to fight those fires for reduced sentences? Likely now. Now, there’s a show about both.

FIRE COUNTRY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A man stands in front of a parole board, deeply sorry to the family of the man he robbed at gunpoint.

The Gist: Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) loses his parole request, but he finds out about a program with Cal Fire; he will get time taken off his sentence if he agrees to fight wildfires for them, at inmate wages.

He’s in the bus with the other inmates, including his friend Freddy (W. Tré Davis) when he sees that they’re going through the town of Edgewater; they see a woman named Gabriella Perez (Stephanie Arcila) get honored for making the Olympic diving team; her father Manny (Kevin Alejandro) is a Cal Fire captain in charge of the conservation camp where the convicts will train. Bode immediately gets concerned, because he’s actually from Edgewater; he left there after a tragedy occured.

At the Edgewater station, Captain Vince Leone (Billy Burke) wants a new dozer to help clear brush during wildfires, but is voted down by the board, which includes his wife, Sharon (Diane Farr). Eve Edwards (Jules Latimer) and Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway) talk about Jake’s burgeoning relationship with Gabriella, who isn’t sure she wants to go back to Florida to train; when she says she loves Jake, he is thrown and doesn’t return the sentiment.

Bode and Freddy try to get a contraband phone so he can call his lawyer; at the dropoff point, they run into Gabrielle, who’s having car trouble. She knows the rules of the camp, of course, and pulls a gun on Bode when he tries to help her. But she relents and he helps get her going again.

During a wildfire caused by a car accident, the trainees are sent to the scene to cut a line and help clear potential fire fuel. When it’s reported that Eve and Jake are trapped up the hill, Bode goes against the lead officer’s wishes and tries to save them. When he sees who it is, the reasons why he didn’t want to be in Edgewater come flooding back.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Chicago Fire or Station 19, except with wildfires and convicts. Fire Country is part of the Jerry Bruckheimer family of CBS shows, so it also shares DNA with shows like CSI.

Our Take: Thieriot created Fire Country along with Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, and its pilot episode contains more than just spectacular fire scenes, although it does have plenty of those. Fire Country isn’t just about the various ways that the people of Cal Fire put their lives on the line to manage the many wildfires that ravage California every year, but the stories that are built around the series’ main players is more than enough to sustain the show as more than just a procedural.

Thieriot has given himself a meaty story as Bode. The tragedy that sent him out of Edgewater was his sister’s death, which happened when she exited the car they were in while he was driving. But his sister Riley’s death affects a lot more than just Bode, as we find out near the end of the episode. Let’s just say that his roots in town run deep, and he knows a thing or two about wildfires, given who he’s related to. Those connections feel like an obvious plot twist, one that will largely be forgotten as the first season wears on, but it’s worth keeping it quiet here, just in case you want to be surprised.

It’s those connections and stories that will make Fire Country connect with audiences, because as much as the spectacular fire scenes are interesting to watch, there’s only so many times you can watch people clearing brush and creating backfires (to expend even more potential fuel for the wildfire) to stop the fire.

Sex and Skin: Lots of flirting, between Vince and Sharon, Jake and Gabriella, and Eve and a bartender, but that’s all there is.

Parting Shot: Vince sees Bode at the hospital after the wildfire and says, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Sleeper Star: We have been Diane Farr fans since at least her guest stint on The Drew Carey Show. And this isn’t even the first show where she is around fire fighters — she was a big part of Rescue Me. We just like her confident but sly take on Sharon.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Well, Freddy, I’m going to train you so you don’t burn into little crispies,” says Manny in response to Freddy’s silly “little crispies” line.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Fire Country has more story and stronger characters at the outset than a CBS procedural like this usually has, and that’ll carry the show when the fires start looking all the same as each other.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.