Burn Notice: Get the Scoop on Summer's Hottest Series
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”
Oops, sorry, wrong spy show, but the declaration stands: Your mission is to catch up on Burn Notice by the time season two premieres—Thursday, July 10 at 10 p.m.! (Tip: The Burn Notice season one DVD came out Tuesday.)
I recommend the whole kit and caboodle of Burn Notice without reservation, and if you won’t take my word, then at least listen to dreamy star Jeffrey Donovan, who said, “It’s a summer show, there’s nothing else on, it’s got action, and there are some pretty hot women on the show.” Touché.
Stars Donovan and Bruce Campbell just took the time to chat about the season, and they were as witty and astute as their characters, Michael and Sam. Click in to find out about Tricia Helfer’s incoming character, Carla, and more inside scoop on the series…
Michael’s Old Ladies: There are two ladies in Michael’s life (his mom and his love interest), and they are simultaneously beloved and a pain in the bunda. When asked about the fiery Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), Donovan said, “That’s a crazy relationship that’s going to have its ups and downs. It’s gonna go left, right and all around.” (Go forward! Go forward!) Jeffrey also said Michael’s relationship with his mom, Madeline (Sharon Gless), will be getting a little more settled this season: “The writers have brought her more into a personal connection with Michael Westen, so I think you’re going to see more of a true mother-son relationship.” Sweet.
Guest-Star Fiesta: Jeffrey spilled a little bit about the mysterious and dangerous Carla (Helfer), “You are actually going to meet Ms. Helfer in the flesh. She’s behind a lot of things that held Michael back, and you realize she’s actually controlling his life. She’s very evil and sexy at the same time.” Bruce: “That’s evexy.” Apparently Tricia was in and out of Burn Notice’s Miami set in a flash. (Cylons are nothing if not efficient.) According to Jeffrey , “She shot all of her stuff in one day. I wish I had her agent.” Jeffrey also revealed that Method Man guests in episode six.
Fermented or Demented? There’s no specific secret behind Michael Westen’s yogurt fetish, but Donovan and Campbell enjoy it as a gag. According to Jeffrey, “It was just something that was written into the script by Matt. For some reason every time I open the fridge, it says, ’All there is is yogurt.’ And then when Sam joins me, it’s beer. So I’m living on yogurt and beer, and that’s how I stay so thin.” Bruce added, “Some things have been added to the fridge this year—because Sam hangs out there a lot. So pickles have been added, and there may be hard-boiled eggs coming up sometime later.” Oops, should have mentioned: Spoiler alert!
What’s to Come: “I love the second-season scripts,” Jeffrey says. “They’re even better than the first season, and I think the first season was pretty darn good in and of itself. The ratings are not up to me, they’re up to the general public, and if they go up or down we’re still going to do the same thing we did last year, which is make the show we’d watch. And that’s what we’re doing this year again.” Yay!
If you’re already a Burn Notice fan, post in the comments and tell your fellow readers what they’re missing if they haven’t given this show a shot. (That is your mission and you must accept it.)
So what are you looking forward to watching this summer?
So here we are at the end of another television season. We’re all exhausted from watching all of the finales, whether it was American Idol or The Office or Grey’s Anatomy or Desperate Housewives (there’s still one biggie left to come next week: Lost!), and we’re ready to take the summer off and enjoy cheeseburgers and the beach and fireworks and road trips, making sure we don’t turn on our televisions unless it’s for the news or maybe some daily soaps.
Of course, television doesn’t really work that way anymore. There is no complete summer hiatus on the networks anymore. They all have reality shows and new scripted shows too, both network and cable. Here are the four shows that I’m most looking forward to watching this summer, and - God help me - there’s one reality show in the mix.
1. Mad Men (AMC): This is part of the new Thursday “Must-See TV” for me (along with 30 Rock and The Office), and I named it the best TV show for a reason: nothing else comes close when it comes to the overall writing, acting, directing, and cinematography of this look at a NYC ad agency in 1960. It’s so good it makes me want to take up smoking, and get married just so I can cheat on my wife! The new season starts in July.
2. Burn Notice (USA): I’m so happy this show got a second season. It’s a real throwback to the loner hero-type shows that we used to see in the 80s. Jeffrey Donovan plays an ex-spy who settles in Miami and tries to find out who screwed him out of a job, all the while helping other people with their problems with the help of Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar. Simply one of the most entertaining shows to debut in years.
3. The Mole (ABC): There aren’t many times I use the phrase “I’m going to watch a reality show,” but this is one that will probably have me hooked. Now, it’s in that special category of reality/game show, so that’s probably why I like it. This new version won’t have Anderson Cooper (he’s on CNN now so Jon Kelley takes over), but it’s also not one of those dreaded celebrity editions, so I bet this is going to be fun. Premieres on June 2 at 10.
4. Swingtown (CBS): I didn’t realize that this show was going to premiere so early (June 5), but it looks like it’s worth checking out. Swingers in ’70s suburbia with probably lots of pot smoking and disco songs. I could do without the disco, but this could be so dirty that it’s fun.
The rest of the summer will be spent catching up on episodes of John Doe I missed and watching stuff like Hulu and AOL Video. Oh, and tennis! How about you?
What I love about Burn Notice
What did I do during the writers’ strike, you ask? I got caught up on the first season of Burn Notice, which I regrettably missed the first time around.
This show has got it all — great characters, action-packed plots and layers of intrigue. Without simply saying that I love everything about Burn Notice, here is my list:
1. Jeffrey Donovan
The lead of Michael Westen could not be better cast. He is believable, but he layers on the quality of the performance with the best facial expressions on an actor’s face that I can remember. I know when he is being a smart-ass, I know when he feels overwhelming love for his mom and I know when he knows he is in it deep.
2. The voice-overs
Yeah, I know. Sometimes voice-overs are the worst thing that could ever happen to a show. Not so in Burn Notice. They are done by lead character Michael Westen, who tells us little tidbits about what it is like to be a spy. They are funny, insightful to his character’s history and experience, and help tie the storyline together. Here’s one of my favorites:
“Thirty years of karate, combat experience on five continents, a rating with every weapon that shoots a bullet or holds an edge… Still haven’t found any defense against Mom crying into my shirt.”
- Michael Westen, Burn Notice
3. Michael’s family
Take two likable actors (Sharon Gless of Cagney and Lacey and Seth Peterson of Providence fame), insert chain smoking, hypochondria and huge costume jewelry; a shady job, a questionably acquired mansion and a little sibling rivalry whining and you’ve got Michael Westen’s mother and brother. It’s a recipe for success and the perfect foil to the straight man spy, although we do get some glimpses of what the family life was like growing up and it wasn’t all fun and games.
4. The chemistry between the three leads
There is sarcastic banter between Sam (Bruce Campbell) and Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), who say they don’t like each other but I think they really have a deep respect for each other as colleagues. Michael and Fiona, who were a thing, then weren’t, now are again. The dance of them getting there was fun because Fiona’s got sass. And Michael and Sam? Their friendship runs deep and true. They’d do anything for each other and they mean that.
5. Yogurt
The only food that is ever in Michael’s fridge is yogurt, with only beer to keep it company. It is reminiscent of Seinfled’s cereal and it is funny. Someone is always grabbing a yogurt to eat while discussing surveillance or making fake explosives, and Sam has even been known to use the ol’ “running out to get Michael some yogurt” excuse.
6. Gadgets
I tell ya, Michael Westen makes MacGyver look like a downright sissy. Westen and his partners make everything from homemade bugs to motion detecting devices to C4. And it is a whole lot more believable than an explosive made from a piece of gum and a paper clip.
7. The “burn”
This is a new concept to me, and I like it. The writers have layered the basic burn with conspiracy, intrigue, murder, set-ups and the like. It has all the makings of big secrets akin to X-Files and Alias. It make one wonder if there is a government agency out there that isn’t corrupt …
The season finale was gripping and really leaves us with a cliffhanger. The DVDs of season 1 come out in June, and season 2 is due out sometime this summer. I can hardly wait.
Gabrielle Anwar Biography
Svelte English ingenue of Hollywood films who became widely noticed when she teamed with Al Pacino for a memorable tango in “Scent of a Woman” (1992). Anwar made her English TV debut at age 15 in the BBC miniseries, “Hideaway”. After working in a number of English and American TV projects, Anwar made her American feature debut as the lead in Disney’s girl-and-her-horse story, “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” (1991), playing real-life stunt rider Sonora Webster famous for diving into a tank of water while on horseback. Anwar next starred opposite Michael J. Fox in the romantic comedy, “For Love or Money” (1993) and acted in “Body Snatchers” (1994), Abel Ferrara’s bloody remake of Don Siegel’s cold-war horror classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956).
- Born:
on 02/04/70 in Laleham, England - Job Titles:
Actor, House cleaner
Family
- Daughter: Willow Anwar. born in 1993
- Father: Tariq Anwar. was nominated for Oscar for “American Beauty” (1999) and received a BAFTA Award for the same film
Significant Others
- Companion: Craig Sheffer. met in London in 1989
Milestones
- 1987 US TV acting debut, “Fearnot”, a TV movie
- 1988 Feature acting debut, “Manifesto”
- 1991 First film in a lead role, “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken”
- Professional acting debut in the BBC miniseries, “Hideaway”