TVSquad

You see that palm tree beside Michael Westen? The blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the background? Well, you can count on seeing all that Miami Beach ambiance on Burn Notice from now on. You might think, "Wait a minute. Why would they even consider leaving South Florida?" Well, last week the Miami commissioners threatened to demolish the Burn Notice studios.

Burn Notice is the only Miami set TV show that actually is filmed in Miami. CSI: Miami and Dexter, for example, fake it with Los Angeles locations. When you see South Beach on Burn Notice, you're seeing the real thing, same with Coral Gables, Boca Raton and every other recognizable SoFla locale. So it's become an important element in the show.

The reason they're able to film there is simple: they were innovative and creative enough to take the abandoned Coconut Grove Expo Center and turn it into a studio. They built sets, hung lights, stocked prop and costume departments, and generally turned an empty building into a thriving production house. The feature Marley and Me used the facilities when Burn Notice was on hiatus. When I visited the set last year, I was floored by what they'd done with the building; I'd remembered when it was the site for weekly flea markets!

For the use of the site, Burn Notice has paid $20,000 a month rent. That was all well and good until the (greedy) Miami commissioners threatened to evict the show and demolish the building. They were seeing visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads from the sale of the waterfront property.

Of course the big fly in the ointment that the commishes should have seen was the South Florida real estate market. Miami real estate -- commercial and otherwise -- is beyond depressed. Tearing down the Expo center would have left a big empty lot, and the loss of the revenues Burn Notice and other productions would bring.

Well, it seem that the commissioners were probably bluffing because as quickly as the controversy was stirred, it was settled. Burn Notice is staying in Miami, in the Expo center, for a fourth year. The rent will continue, only now they're saying it will be going toward improving the waterfront in Coconut Grove.

William Talbert, president and chief executive of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, probably explained best why this is a win-win for both sides: ''Burn Notice is an infomercial for the city of Miami. It is telecast in 206 countries worldwide.''