Sharon

A worried mother working miles away from her family frantically tries to get her three children out of harm’s way as an out of control fire ravages their community. Firefighters do everything they can, but strong winds are working against them to make the destruction go from bad to worse.

This scenario is reminiscent of the heroics that are portrayed weekly on the CBS firefighter television drama “Fire Country,” which follows the dedicated Cal Fire station in Northern California where an abundance of wooded areas make fire a common hazard. However, this particular story is very real and comes from actor Diane Farr, who plays Cal Fire Division Chief Sharon Leone and mother to firefighter Bode Leone (Max Thieriot, also a co-creator and executive producer) on the series. Farr remembers how in January she was on the show’s set in Vancouver while the wildfires were wreaking havoc in Los Angeles.

“My house was inside the evacuation order and I had to start flying my children out as fast as I could from L.A.,” she says of her La Cañada Flintridge home, which survived. “We were evacuated for eight days and the wind just went toward Altadena as opposed to coming toward our house. It was terrifying and was very eye opening for us.”

The horrific Los Angeles fires were eventually contained after catastrophic damage to the city, with some heroic firefighters leaving with jarring stories they were able to share with the “Fire Country” cast and crew. “Two of our consultants are L.A. firefighters, Matty and Marty Mullen, who had shown me a lot of videos of real firefighting of what was going on in L.A. that we were able to infuse into our [Season 3] finale,” says executive producer Tia Napolitano. “It felt important that we could show real authenticity inspired by the L.A. fires that we all lived through. I can’t believe it’s only been a year.”

Diane Farr as Sharon Leone in “Fire Country.” The actor’s home was in the evacuation zone during the L.A. wildfires in January.

(Sergei Bachlakov / CBS)

That dedication to authenticity has helped “Fire Country” become one of the sturdiest series on CBS’ prime-time schedule since premiering October 2022. Currently in its fourth season, “Fire Country” has won its time slot every week this season except when it aired against Game 6 of the World Series. It is now the veteran drama on Friday nights sandwiched between two new successful procedurals, “Sheriff Country” starring Morena Baccarin at 8 p.m. and “Boston Blue” starring Donnie Wahlberg at 10 p.m. Pacific, both spinoffs that have quickly caught the attention of audiences since their October debuts.

Farr believes the success of these shows is akin to the huge popularity of genres like true crime and their basic storytelling structure. “There is a good guy and a bad guy that’s very clear and very binary,” she says. “If you can create a situation that feels a little bit unsafe, if you can show me how people would make me safe in it, how they would solve the problem, it’s slightly relieving on a nervous system level.”

“Fire Country” delivers on all those components with the Station 42 crew performing regular acts of heroism as they keep their community safe, a reflection of real-life firefighters, says Thieriot. “People who have to do this job day in and day out are really a special breed. For me, a big thing has always been trying to capture that and trying to portray that the best way possible,” he says. “It’s television, so obviously there are more moments when we’re trying to find the drama, but at the end of the day, it’s really important that we focus on the real and we find the real in there.”

Eve (Jules Latimer) and Bode (Max Thieriot) in “Fire Country.” “People who have to do this job day in and day out are really a special breed. For me, a big thing has always been trying to capture that and trying to portray that the best way possible,” Thieriot says. (Sergei Bachlakov/CBS)

Part of the real comes in knowing that where there are heroes, there are also villains and, as its midseason finale is set to air on Friday, “Fire Country” currently has a frightening one in the form of Landon (Josh McDermitt). Initially seen as meek and even-tempered, the layers have been pulled back to show something different.

“Landon is a threat to our people and that’ll go forward for a few episodes,” teases Napolitano. “You feel like this guy is out there and he has nothing to lose.”

That’s because Landon has already lost the trust of his girlfriend Chloe (Alona Tal) and her teenage son Tyler (Conor Sherry), who recently revealed to Bode that Landon set the tragic Zabel Ridge Fire. That’s the L.A.-inspired blaze from the third-season finale that not only destroyed homes and land but also took the life of Cal Fire battalion chief Vince Leone (Billy Burke), Sharon’s husband and Bode’s father.

In Friday’s episode, a vengeful Landon isn’t happy about being investigated or the fact that Bode and Sharon have made sure that Chloe and Tyler are staying away from him. “Landon’s a small man with a very big ego and a big victim complex and that’s going to manifest in a scary way,” Napolitano says.

It also may not help matters that Chloe and Bode were once romantically involved and a spark may still exist, especially since Bode has been mentoring the troubled Tyler. Is the single Bode’s heart open to a second chance at love? “He’s getting there,” says Thieriot. “Leading up to this season, Bode had so many obstacles and I think this journey with Tyler [as mentor] is a big part of that.”

Bode (Max Thieriot) and Chloe (Alona Tal) were once romantically involved. (Sergei Bachlakov/CBS)

Hearts are also healing on the show in the aftermath of Vince’s shocking death, an event that was never in the show’s plan to quickly sweep under the rug. “We really want to be the show that everyone knows and loves, which is a comfort to a lot of our viewers,” says Napolitano. “It’s a show of joy and levity but also honors the fact that we are missing a core character who did die a hero’s death and honoring him by keeping his memory alive.”

That memory exists for Farr in several rings she regularly wears representing Sharon’s marriage and family with Vince, but she added another piece this season based on a suggestion from director Sarah Wayne Callies.

“Vince’s bracelet is heavy and regularly bumps the smaller bones in my hand,” Farr says. “Just like my former scene partner Billy, who would debate any word or line or blocking or intention with me to get to the truest take on anything we did together. Losing him is always going to be loss.” Farr said she doesn’t want to play grief forever but upcoming episodes will continue to show Sharon “trying to figure out who she is as a ‘one’ instead of a ‘two.’”

Though everyone hopes Los Angeles won’t see more fires like the ones from nearly a year ago, “Fire Country’s” creators and cast will continue to shine a light on firefighters and all the life-and-death work they do on a daily basis and, above all else, entertain.

“It’s not always easy to continue to surprise the audience and come up with this stuff that’s just really captivating and fresh and new but I believe that we can,” Thieriot says. “I’m really eager to accomplish that.”

SHARON Osbourne has revealed that her late husband Ozzy suffered some rather vivid dreams in the days leading up to his tragic death.

In an emotional interview with her friend Piers Morgan on his Uncensored show, which will drop onto YouTube on Wednesday, former X Factor judge Sharon spoke about Ozzy’s haunting dreams before he died.

She even revealed how the dreams he had in the run up to his passing predicted his tragic death.

Sitting down with Piers, Sharon emotionally opened up about her late husband almost five months on from his passing.

Ozzy, who had performed a final farewell gig at his home town of Birmingham‘s Villa Park stadium just days earlier, had been battling health issues for some time.

He was plagued by vivid dreams in his final days before his death in July.

SO BRAVE

Sharon Osbourne and daughter Kelly reunite with her CBB co-star Bradley Riches

DARLING HUSBAND

Sharon Osbourne’s emotional tribute to late husband Ozzy on his birthday

Sharon, who had been married to the star since 1982 and has three children with the Black Sabbath frontman, admits her own regrets over his final weeks as he experienced the vivid dreams.

She told Piers in the new interview: “I felt fear, regret, I just couldn’t function.

“Like, he told me that he was having dreams the last week of his life.

“He was seeing people that he never knew, and they were I said, ‘Well, what kind of people?’ 

“He goes, ‘All different people. And I just keep walking and walking, and I’m seeing all these different people every night, and I go back there and I’m looking at these people, and they’re looking at me, and nobody’s talking’. 

“And he knew. He was ready.”

She added: “Really, really vivid dreams.

“The night before he passed, he was up and down to the bathroom all night, and it was like 4:30 and he said, ‘Wake up’. I said, ‘I’m already bloody awake, you’ve woken me up’. 

“And he said, ‘Kiss me’. And then he said, ‘Hug me  tight?’

“I can’t help wondering if I should have, could I have?

“If only I’d have told him I loved him more. If only I’d have held him tighter.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Sharon revealed Ozzy had asked her, in his final weeks, if she would ever remarry.

“Everything in my life now is like ish..,” she explained while wiping away tears. “It’s okay, all right. I’m okay. That’s it for now.

“For so, so many years, we were intertwined, and not it’s really grief has become my friend.

“It’s very weird to me. You know, when you love someone that much and you’re grieving for them, it’s what I have to live with, and I’ll get used to it. I will. I have to, you know, things move on.

“One night when he was hugging me tight, you know, he said ‘When I go, do you think you’ll ever get married?’

“I’m like, “fuck off, piss off”. Questions like that. You know. 

“Oh, my God no, never, ever, ever, no.”

Watch the full interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube.

Sharon Osbourne has candidly revealed how she mentally struggled after losing her husband Ozzy

Sharon Osbourne considered “going with Ozzy” when he passed away. The former X Factor judge, 73, had been married to Black Sabbath legend Ozzy for more than 40 years when he died in July at the age of 76, and has now made the candid admission that she may have ended it all had it not been for their children.

The showbiz couple had Aimee, 42, Kelly, 41, and 40-year-old Jack together, and when asked how they had supported her through her grief, she admitted they were the only reason she wanted to continue.

She said: “I wouldn’t have got through. I would have just gone with Ozzy, definitely. I’ve done everything I wanted to do. You know they’ve been unbelievable, just magnificent with me, all three of them.”

READ MORE: Kelly Osbourne breaks down in tears in first TV interview after Ozzy’s deathREAD MORE: Sharon Osbourne recalls moment she found Ozzy dead and final words he said to her

The music manager recalled a time in the past when she suffered a mental breakdown and when she sought professional help in a facility, she saw the ramifications children are forced to deal with parents have taken their own lives.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored , she added: “Years ago, when I had one of my mental breakdowns, I went into a little facility to help with my head. And there were two girls over there. They didn’t know each other, but they were in there, each mother had committed suicide.

“And I saw the state that these two young women were in and what it had done to their lives, and I thought, I will never, ever, ever do that to my kids.”

The matriarch of the Osbourne family also recalled the moment she found him dead and how she screamed uncontrollably at realising he had passed.

She said: “He had a heart attack. I ran downstairs, and there he was, and they were trying to resuscitate him, and I’m like, ‘Don’t — just leave him. Leave him. You can’t. He’s gone’. I knew instantly he’d gone. And they tried and tried, and then they took him by helicopter to the hospital and they tried, and it’s like, ‘He’s gone. Just leave him.'”

Sharon also explained how Ozzy would use the crosstrainer for up to an hour and a half a day, even with his ill health. Sharing a moment from their final night together for the first time, Sharon said Ozzy had been up and down out of bed all night.

“He said, ‘Kiss me’. And then he said, ‘Hug me tight’. I can’t help wondering if I should have, could I have? If only I’d have told him I loved him more. If only I’d have held him tighter. And he went downstairs, worked out for 20 minutes and passed away,” she said.

*If you are struggling with mental health, you can speak to a trained advisor from Mind mental health charity on 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk

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