Burn Notice began airing in June 2007 on the USA Network. The series, created by Matt Nix, centers on Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), a spy “burned” by his own agency who ends up in Miami, Florida. When a spy is “burned,” he is considered a threat to national security and dumped somewhere he cannot leave. It’s tough to go anywhere when your bank accounts are frozen and you have no assets. Since the beginning, Westen has been trying to find out who burned him and how to get back into the agency’s good graces.
Luckily for Westen, he has friends and family in Miami. His mom, Madeline (played to the hilt by a chain-smoking Sharon Gless), lives in Miami, as does his friend and former FBI agent Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) and his former IRA operative girlfriend Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar). This odd quartet mixes camp humor and action in an explosive combination.
This Thursday, Burn Notice ends its third season with another cliffhanger to hold us over until the fourth season begins in June 2010. As the season ramps down, actors Donovan and Anwar took some time out of their schedules to answer a few questions.
It was obvious from the beginning of the conference call that the pair had a good relationship off camera as well as on the set. The duo laughed genially a lot at many of our questions but seemed happy to answer just about whatever came up.
When asked what drew the actors to the show and their characters, Anwar said it was the initial script and how her character Fiona was written. “I couldn’t believe that a man had actually written the script,” she said. “I mean at least her character. When I first met Matt Nix, who created and wrote the script, I actually said to him ‘You must have a remarkable relationship with your wife, because you have such incredible insight.’” She continued with “When you sign up for a TV show, you don’t know if it’s going to be for a pilot or for the rest of your life, so I wanted to play a characater that I enjoyed thoroughly – and there weren’t that many of them out there.”
Answering the same question, Donovan said he was hooked by the introduction. “The first page is a voiceover. It says ‘You know what it’s like to be a spy?’” The opportunity to not only play a spy, but play a burned spy and “on top of that… talk to the audience about what it’s like being a spy [as a voiceover]” piqued his interest.
Another reporter asked about the actors’ success in television and why they keep coming back to do more TV work. Donovan said that, especially with cable, “it’s an avenue to be creative.” He said “I think why people are drawn more now to cable shows than ever is that they take more risks – they’re creatively pushing the envelope. I think that the networks have to answer to a bigger advertising calling, whereas the smaller cable [channels] have lower ceilings they can bump their heads on.”
He continued. “And if you think about it, we make 16 one-hour movies a season. You don’t get an opportunity like that in movies.”
Anwar said she likes the stability of television – “the continuity of having a lifestyle where I know I can pay my rent at the end of each month.” And as a mother, she said it was “nice for all of us to sort of know we’re going to be in a specific place for a certain amount of time. I’ve never known that in my career. So I’m really quite grateful at this point that I get to have this sort of double existence and can rely on both.”
When asked if actor/director Tim Matheson would return as ‘Larry’ – Westen’s former insane spy partner who has gone freelance – Donovan was quite outspoken about the actor. “He’s a terrific character and Tim’s such a wonderful man and an extraordinary actor. One, we were lucky to get him, and two – he’s actually happy to be on the show and wants to continually come back.”
During the call we also learned that Matheson will be directing the premiere episode for season four, which is great. He acted in and directed a few episodes of season 2 and 3, and whenever his character Larry shows up, the audience knows something bad will happen to poor Michael Westen.
Later in the call, Anwar was asked about working with Sharon Gless and how Fiona and Madeline’s characters have grown closer over the seasons. She definitely agreed with that assessment… “I think that these two women have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. There’s so little spoken about what’s really being felt and really being witnessed with that connection to Michael, I think it’s pretty accurate to real life, especially with in-law figures. There’s so much that’s not spoken out loud, and yet there are so many physical undertones and it’s very apparent – and that’s thanks to Sharon. I mean, her performance is so beautifully nuanced and I find it terribly inspiring. She’s a wonderful woman and actress.”
When Donovan was asked about what he does in his off time, he mentioned he golfs as regularly as he can. “Luckily down in Florida, there’s a lot of golf courses. And I just put a golf hat on and take my sticks out and usually walk a course. Sometimes I’m by myself and sometimes I just kind of walk onto a twosome or threesome and join them. And most people just kind of leave me alone. That’s my quiet time. I love walking about four or five hours on a golf course.”
This season, we were introduced to Mason Gilroy, a violent psychopathic villain played almost gleefully by Chris Vance (recently on FOX’s Mental). The characters of Gilroy and Westen seem on screen to be like two coiled vipers waiting to strike each other. When I asked Donovan and Anwar about working with him this season, they seemed quite happy with the opportunity.
“Yes, he’s definitely added a great tension to every scene that I’m in with him,” said Donovan. “And I think [he's] kind of a great super villain that governs over the show. I think the best part of Burn Notice is always when the villain or guest star is more talented, smarter, or crazier than the rest of the cast because it ups all our game.”
Anwar agreed, adding “There’s nothing more inspiring than to have to pull everything you have out of your back pocket on the stage. And we have so little time to rehearse and to find everything imaginable in one scene, that when you do have this fantastic talent to work with it really is fun, [and] it makes it that much more enjoyable.”
It’s obvious that these two great actors enjoy the series they’re on, their characters, the setting, and the chance to act with some other great actors in the process. Burn Notice is one of the best, most interesting series on TV right now and I hope it continues long into the indefinite future.
Be sure to tune into the Burn Notice Season 3 finale this Thursday night on the USA network!
Imagine if you will a television series with the dry wit of House, the improvised gadgetry of MacGyver, and the spy games of the Bourne Identity. Then you might have an idea of what Burn Notice is like before you watch it.
I have to admit when Season One started airing on the USA Network, I avoided it thinking it would be formula and boring. But I caught myself watching when Season Two began airing last summer. And then it was too late for me. I’d been ensnared by the witty dialog, clever contraptions, and a great pairing of writers and actors.
At that point I went to Hulu and began watching all the episodes I’d missed from Season One. And then I made sure I caught all of Season Two when it aired. I was hooked.
Now Season Three has begun to air and the DVD set for Season Two just hit the shelves. If you haven’t watched, I recommend checking out the first season for some background on the characters. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been going on so far…
Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is a burned spy stuck in Miami, Florida, working to clear his name so he can go back to work for the CIA or whatever agency he’d been working for before he was burned. To be burned is to basically be dumped unceremoniously in a city with no money, no credit cards, no bank accounts, and no belongings beyond what they leave on your person. Westen was burned two years ago and has been doing odd jobs helping people in Miami ever since as he tried to piece together who burned him and why so he could find a way to repay the kindness.
Westen has two friends in town – Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell). Fiona is an ex-girlfriend, ex-IRA operative with a penchant for violence, guns, and explosives. She also dabbles as an arms dealer, apprehends bail jumpers, and helps people occasionally. Axe is retired FBI and someone who had investigated and watched Westen in the past for the Feds. Both Fiona and Sam have proved their loyalty to Westen many times over during the last two seasons (though Sam’s loyalty was in doubt during the first season).
In addition, Westen also has family in and around Miami. His mom, Madeline (Sharon Gless), is a chain smoking force of nature who is constantly trying to get Michael out of whatever trouble he gets himself into. Nate Westen (Seth Peterson) is Michael’s younger brother who tends to get himself in a different type of trouble – whether it be with get-rich-quick schemes or gambling – and tries to help out Michael when he’s not trying to save his own skin. Nate doesn’t appear often, but Madeline appears regularly. Fiona, Sam, and Michael often take advantage of Madeline’s house to hide “clients” or lay low from time to time.
Michael, Sam, and Fiona contract out to do odd jobs for clients. Sometimes it’s finding people who don’t want to be found… Sometimes it’s retrieving lost objects or money… But each job takes Westen squarely into conflict with various mobsters, con men, spies, thieves, and killers. Along the way we get to see many of Westen’s talents and skills, as well as those of his friends.
In Season Two, in addition to doing various jobs for his clients, a mysterious woman named “Carla” forces Michael to help with her own plans. Carla may have burned Michael so that he could come work for her organization, but she causes all kinds of trouble for Michael by threatening his family and friends if he doesn’t do what she says. Of course, Michael doesn’t take anything lying down and does his own investigation into Carla’s organization and motives.
Though Season One had a few moments where the stories began to fall into “client of the week” repetition, Season Two led us down a winding path helping clients and seeing what Carla has been up to all the way up to the explosive season finale. The first season was fun, but the second took things to a whole new level.
The Burn Notice, Season Two DVD set includes four DVDs with all 16 episodes, a gag reel, a couple of deleted scenes, and commentary for the season finale from Matt Nix (creator and writer), Bruce Campbell, and Michael Shanks (who played Victor, a rival spy, and is best known as Daniel Jackson in the Stargate SG-1 universe).
The gag reel is hilarious and features various goofs and gotchas caught on tape during the filming of the second season. Donovan, Campbell, and Anwar are featured in the clips, which include everything from equipment and prop failure, forgotten lines, and giggling fits.
The two deleted scenes are very short and not impressive. One is from “Truth and Reconciliation” (season two, episode 14) and the other is from “Lesser Evil” (season two, episode 16 – the season finale). Neither really helped out either episode, so it was easy to see why they were cut.
But the commentary provides some interesting insights from series creator and writer Nix as well as amusing anecdotes from Campbell and Shanks. The trio has nothing but praise for director Tim Matheson (who also appears in the “Double Booked” episode earlier in the season).
If you haven’t been addicted to Burn Notice by now, with two seasons on DVD, it’s a great time to get caught up. Season Three stands on its own (airing Thursday nights on the USA Network), but it’s always good to have a bit more background on the characters. Be sure to pick up Burn Notice, Season Two on DVD at your favorite retailer and support this great series!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up the 1st and 2nd seasons of Burn Notice at Amazon today!
I had a chance on Monday to dial in for a conference call with Bruce Campbell in preparation for the Burn Notice Season 3 opener happening tonight. For those of you who don’t know Bruce, he’s been a part of the fantasy, horror, and science fiction scene ever since playing Ash in the first Evil Dead movie with pal Sam Raimi directing in 1981. That was 28 years ago!! (Geez I feel old.)
Beyond the Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness as our hero Ash fighting back the hordes of the possessed loosed from the pages of the Necromicon, he’s also been involved in other movies and television. Remember Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess? How about Brisco County Jr.? And of course he’s been involved in some way with all of the Spiderman movies directed by his friend Sam. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Lately however, he’s been playing Sam Axe, retired FBI agent and pal of Burn Notice’s Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan). Sam and Michael hang out with Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) in Miami following Michael’s “burn notice” in the spy game. Basically his employers decided that he wasn’t trustworthy and dumped him without any money or his stuff in Miami three years ago when the Burn Notice series began on the USA Network.
Sam Axe, though initially mistrusted by Michael and Fiona, has proven to be a stalwart ally over the last two seasons. Though a bit of a womanizer and a drinker, Sam always has Michael’s back when it comes down to it.
Bruce was kind enough to speak to a group of us on a conference call Monday afternoon to promote season 3 of Burn Notice and I even had a chance to talk to him to ask a couple of questions. He really seems like a down-to-earth person who enjoys his work.
So with that lead-up… Here are a few of the questions that were asked…
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>Suzanne Lanoue from TV MegaSite asked if Bruce’s work in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic book-related media was a planned effort on his part, or if it just sort of happened?
>Bruce: It’s a little of both. You are guilt by association, so when my first movie was Evil Dead, which is now 30 years ago when we made the movie – so yes, you are all very old, all of you who are listening – that film was pretty successful and allowed a couple of others to be made and what it did is, it just sort of put me in the genre world, right from the go-get. I suppose if I had made a romantic comedy when I was 21 and that did crazy, then I’d be the romantic comedy guy. It’s kind of how Hollywood works. So, it’s material that I’m sort of interested in, though, too, at the same time, so part of me perpetuates it in that I gravitate toward oddball stories, some genre stuff, not all horror. I like fantasy and sci-fi and that sort of stuff, too, but for me, I guess it’s the combination of starting out in the genre and then being attracted to certain material that could also be considered genre.
>BethAnn Henderson with NiceGirlsTV.com asked Bruce where his character Sam was heading this season.
>Bruce: Well, Sam by now is, we’re now past the point where we don’t trust him. He’s a hopefully valuable member of the team now, and so, like Michael Westen, Sam is taking the twists and turns as they come now. I don’t know that Sam is going to get married or any personal revelation. Sam is pretty much living in Michael’s mother’s house, a room in her house, so he’s just kind of a permanent loser, at least in this season. And he’s always there to help.
>Anthony Nepal with BurnNotice.com asked how Burn Notice was different from past TV shows he’d done.
>Bruce: Well, the making of television is the same, it’s very fast. You’re doing between 6 and 11 pages per day, which is a lot. Features probably do three pages. Big features do one page a day. So that’s not different. What’s different, of course, is we’re in Miami, which is a completely out of the box thing for me because I live in Oregon, at the complete opposite end of the country. So it’s different in every way physically, and the dynamics are different. I’ve never really done a spy show before, so this is a first for me. I did a western show, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., and I did a – well actually, no, I did a spy show, Jack of All Trades, where I played the very first spy, but this is, I guess, you’d say sort of modern day, realistic approach where it’s not Hercules or Xena or something fantastic going on. What’s different is also the subject matter. It’s a fairly mature, adult sort of comedy/drama, with no fantastic special effects.
>I got to ask: “Obviously Burn Notice has a lot of action sequences, do you find the action sequences to be the hardest part of each episode to film, or are they one of the things that are the most fun during production?”
>Bruce: It all depends on what you’re doing. Fight scenes can be fun, but they can be very tedious and sweat-inducing, so those take a little more effort. I blew my hamstring last year during a fight scene, so they don’t have me fight as much these days, but action sequences are very broken up when we film them. They’re little tiny pieces that get all put together. So with an action sequence, you just have to hope that what you’re doing is fitting in, because you’re only getting a tiny sequence of view, like looking through a scope ready to fire, or something like that. So when it’s all put together is when it becomes an action sequence, but actually shooting an action sequence, unless you’re chasing somebody, they’re actually the least exciting to film.
>Anthony Nepal with BurnNotice.com asked between voice acting and live acting, which does he like better?
>Bruce: I like a little bit of everything. I like, the phrase we used in Detroit was “job rotation.” That meant that you could do different things at different times. So this fall there’s a movie, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs that’s coming out. It’s a pretty well-known kid’s book that they’re animating it to be 3D animation. That’s a lot of fun because you lay down a voice track and they create an entire world that you won’t see for months. I recorded this last year, and I won’t see it for a year and a half later. So that’s kind of an interesting thing. You forget about it and then it comes back and you see everything that they’ve done to it. And you realize you’re an integral part but it’s still, you’re a part of this big hole. Television acting is great. I like it because it’s so quick; you don’t have to wait around. And feature film acting is a lot of fun because you can do very in-depth stories, but it takes a long time to shoot them, and sometimes it’s more tedious to do a big budget movie.
>My second question (a very geeky one, but hey, I’m a geek!) was “Who do you think makes a better enemy, zombies from the Necronomicon, or the spies of Burn Notice?”
>Bruce: Apples and oranges, my friend. I would say zombies in general, I don’t think are that good of bad guys because you can’t understand them, like the true zombie, the shuffling zombie. You can’t communicate with them and they’re too slow. Evil Dead, they’re possessed people, not technically zombies, I guess. They’re okay. I think spies are a better bad guy, meaning they’re more challenging. You don’t always have to cut a bad guy up with a chain saw, you can just shoot him. So it might be harder to kill a zombie, but it’s easier to get away from a zombie, and it might be easier to kill a bad guy like a spy, but it’s harder to hide from a spy, because they have the tricks that you have. That’s my theory.
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There were a ton of great questions. You can read a bit more of the interview at BlogCritics here and some of the various other blogs I linked to above.
It was great to have a chance to talk to Bruce and of course I wish him well on the new season of Burn Notice and in all future endeavors!
Be sure to check out the Burn Notice season 3 premiere tonight on the USA Network!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up Seasons 1 and 2 of Burn Notice on DVD from Amazon:
In case you’ve forgotten, it’s almost time to pick a winner for that Burn Notice Prize Pack Giveaway I announced on January 24th… Twelve people so far have thrown their hats into the ring… Join the fray!
Leave a comment on this post to enter the contest!
I pick a winner on Saturday February 21st! Don’t be left out!
BURN NOTICE, the hottest show last summer returns for its second season continuation with seven all new episodes onThursday, January 22, 2009 at 10/9c.BURN NOTICE is a sexy action-packed series starring Jeffrey Donovan (“Changeling”) as Michael Westen, a blacklisted spy who finds himself stranded in sun-soaked Miami without money, resources, or a clue as to who burned him, or why. The only tools at his disposal are his wits, his charm, his special ops training and his “friends:” Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar – “The Tudors”), a beautiful ex-IRA operative who also happens to be Michael’s ex-girlfriend, and Sam (Bruce Campbell – “Evil Dead”), a washed-up military intelligence contact who works as Michael’s sidekick, and his mother (Emmy Award-winner Sharon Gless – “Queer as Folk”), who Michael has spent most of his adult life trying to avoid.Visit the official site atwww.burnnotice.usanetwork.comor join other fans on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Burn-Notice/7750605107?ref=ts
Burn Notice Prize pack
Grand Prize winner will receive:
-Burn Notice Tech Pack which includes a Mesh Case, Casio Watch, Mag Flashlight and Binoculars
-Burn Notice Season 1 DVD
-Burn Notice Mini-Football
Leave a comment below with your e-mail address. The contest ends February 20, 2009 and a random winner will be chosen February 21, 2009!
This week begins the second half of season 2 of Burn Notice on USA. If you haven’t noticed me gushing over this show in the past, I’ll be the first to tell you I’m a big fan. Not sure why I didn’t get hooked during the first season, but I was immediately grabbed by the first half of the season, caught up on Hulu for season 1, and am ready for the first episode in 2009!
For those of you who haven’t been introduced to the world of Burn Notice, I’ll provide a brief intro. The series is about the character, Michael Westin (played by Jeffrey Donovan), a now ex-spy for the CIA. He was black listed in the first season — basically fired by the CIA — and dumped in Miami. He’s spent the last couple of years trying to figure out why he was kicked out so he can get his job back. In the meantime, he works in Miami with his friends Sam (the always amazing Bruce Campbell), who is retired FBI, and Fiona (the stunning Gabrielle Anwar), an ex-girlfriend, ex-gun runner for the IRA. To fill his time while he tries to figure out how to get back into the good graces of the CIA, he helps people out doing investigative work.
That said… I was able to get a sneak peak at this week’s season premiere over the weekend. The episode is titled “do no harm” and picks up right where the mid-season cliffhanger ended… with Michael being blown up as he opened the door to his loft.
The episode starts strong with Sam coming to Michael’s aid and the two of them outrunning/outsmarting a couple of dark sedans tailing them. On their way to find a safe place to recover (Michael was a bit banged up), Michael manages to stop a man from committing suicide in front of a bus.
I don’t want to spoil the episode for you, but we do get a chance to see Tricia Helfer (Number 6 from Battlestar Galactica) return to her role as bad spy Carla (she plays bad girls so well). We also get to see Michael’s mother, Madeline, played by the indomitable Sharon Gless (of Cagney & Lacey fame).
I thought that the guy Michael saved from meeting the bus was a bit wimpier than the usual people Michael, Fiona, and Sam help out, but it’s still a good, exciting story to start the second half of Burn Notice’s 2nd season.
To say that I’m excited about more episodes would be an understatement. I always learn something cool (kind of like watching MacGyver) in every episode. What else will we learn about this season? (So far my favorite tidbit was how to use the freon in a can of compressed air to freeze a padlock. I haven’t tried it yet, but I want to! )
Be sure to check out Burn Notice on Thursday, January 22, 2009 on the USA Network!!
–Fitz
p.s. Be sure to pick up season 1 on DVD from Amazon! You can also catch up on episodes from Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 on Hulu!
Yes, I’m man enough to admit that I have a Man Crush on the USA Series “Burn Notice.”
If you know nothing about the series, it’s about a spy, Michael Weston, played by Jeffrey Donovan, who was burned by the agency he worked for in the field. Since being burned, he was dumped in Miami, Florida, where he tries to figure out who burned him and why. And while he’s doing that, he has to earn a living, so he uses his special skill set to help people in trouble.
This series started in 2007 and for some reason I wasn’t engaged by it. But this year when season 2 began, I got hooked. Then I had to go back and watch all 12 episodes from last season.
Luckily for Westen, he has friends and family in Miami. His mom, Madeline (played to the hilt by a chain-smoking Sharon Gless), lives in Miami, as does his friend and former FBI agent Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) and his former IRA operative girlfriend Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar). This odd quartet mixes camp humor and action in an explosive combination.
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