A lot of times, the news about ratings isn't good. Or not good enough, so shows that you care about have to hope for the kindness of TV executives to give that show more time to improve or find a new time slot or something ... just to survive. That's why it's such a pleasure that Burn Notice did great in the ratings for the summer season finale last Thursday. According to the numbers, 7.6 million total viewers were glued to the set, the most eyeballs for any scripted TV shows that night.
(S03E09) Wow! Talk about a powerful finale. There were a lot of plot points and emotional issues addressed, and if you had any question about Michael's true loyalty, this show answered it. Burn Notice goes on hiatus -- is that what they call it? -- till the winter, and it's going to be a long rest of the summer and fall waiting for the story to resume. There was change in the air, what with Michael inching closer to a return to the CIA -- or so it seemed. More on all that and the blistering finale after the jump.
(S03E08) In the latest Michael adventure, our hero was hell-bent on getting back into intelligence work – nothing new, really. However, that meant dancing with Strickler, a foxtrot that Fiona was reluctant to take part in ...
More on Fiona's vulnerabilities after the jump. Meanwhile, another job popped up when Barry, money launderer and occasional member of the Michael troupe of operatives, called in all his favors and became the client.
I first fell into Royal Pains because I have this bizarre fascination with the Hamptons. I hadn't even heard of it until a few years ago, and now it's just fascinating to me. Here's a place full of people I will never get to mingle with, living and partying somewhere that I will never go. It's Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous with a plot.
Burn Notice I've not watched because I didn't jump in when it first started (regular readers may remember that I have a thing about that), though I should probably just get over it and check it out. It has Bruce Campbell in it, and he's always a blast and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Regardless, it's more good news for cable broadcasting while the networks keep crying away the summer.
(S03E07) Burn Notice usually stays on the fun side of spying. This episode was all about getting back to doing a Robin Hood job, and since it tapped into Michael's psychology so perfectly, it added a good dollop of emotion to the fun.
And there was also that preview from last week that left fans gasping. Was one of the gang of three going down? Fortunately, in the world of spoilers and such, if that were true it would have been all over the net. Fortunately, it was all part of the con. More on that after the jump.
If you read my updated TV Squad profile, you'll see that besides infomercials, my guilty pleasure is blooper shows. You don't see many of them on TV nowadays, but you do get a lot of gag reels on DVD sets. Since Burn Notice is on tonight I thought I'd post this clip of season two outtakes. They sure do swear a lot.
(S03E06) It seems like this season of Burn Notice has been all about friends and family. You know, like the cell phone deal. Michael has been relying more and more on family -- and yes, that means Fiona and Sam to me -- and picking up new friends week in and week out. As Michael has pointed out a few times, he's more valuable as a friend than an enemy. By the time we reach the end of the summer, Michael may have to throw a party to celebrate the new friendships he's made.
We also now know what can stop Michael Westen in his tracks; a Taser to the neck. Yes, for one of the few times, bad guys got the jump on Michael and he was snatched.
I think there's a rule that every TV show about a spy has an episode about how they're trapped in a jungle or island and are hunted by the bad guys. That happens on tonight's episode ("The Hunter") of Burn Notice too, but it looks like fun. This clip shows Michael meeting Beck, who turns out to be a major part of that above scenario.
(S03E05) Michael Weston met Michael Westen. How cool was it that Burn Notice cast actor Michael Weston -- remember him as the private eye who helped House last year? As a psycho/math genius/code breaker/pattern spotter named Spencer Witawski, he was sort of a detective here, too, good enough to have tracked down Michael and become the latest client.
As integral episodes go, this was a major one. Major for Michael and his desire to return to government work and major for the status of Fiona and Michael's relationship. And did I mention that it was a major league great show, too? More after the jump.
It seems like everyone is out to get Burn Notice's Michael Westen in one way or another. An old buddy from the spy days will come back to see him and he'll end up being a bad guy, or he'll have other evildoers trying to kill, control and/or blackmail him. Now we have another one coming to the show for four episodes, and it's someone who was in not one but two different recent FOX shows.
(S03E04) That pesky Detective Paxson of the Miami PD continued to be a thorn in Michael's side, to the point that Michael decided it was time to extract her from his life. To get Paxson -- one royal pain in the butt who doesn't believe that Michael's one of the good guys -- Michael concocts a plan to help her close her case against Rick Matheson, a real bad guy.
Matheson was a one-note Rock look-alike, without Dwayne Johnson's charm. Mostly Matheson was a scumbag who deserved to be brought down.
Tommy, on the other hand, wasn't really a nasty moke. He was broadly hammed up by former NYPD Blue star Nick Turturro, and turned out to be Michael's way into Matheson's organization.
(S03E02) I love Sam Axe, which is another way of saying Bruce Campbell makes watching Burn Notice a pleasure. Especially an episode like this one that was all about the chemistry between Sam and Mike when working undercover on a case with a nut job criminal intent on leaving Michael swimming in a pool of his own blood.
It's not just Sam that keeps me coming back for more from this show, or the tense but compelling subtext between Fiona and Michael's "is it love?" relationship. By and large, Burn Notice is smart TV. It shows me scenes I haven't seen before on other shows or on the big screen. More on the specifics after the jump, so if you don't want to know because you haven't watched yet, be warned.
(S03E01) You knew from last season's finale that Michael taking the plunge into the Atlantic from a helicopter, thus turning down an offer to work with Management in some organized ops position, he was taking a big chance. The leap was a metaphor and the danger for Michael Westen was about to increase exponentially.
Well, in this opening episode, it's clear that creator Matt Nix has upped the volume for Burn Notice. In Spinal Tap terms, we're at eleven, and that's more than ten. For Michael, a five-mile ocean swim in suit pants was just the kind of discomfort trained operatives have to learn to endure. When he landed on Miami Beach, one of the busy, bikini-clad girls and kids making sand castle types, he was all in. But no rest for the weary. In short order, Michael was on the run and in a world of trouble.
OK, so the video below isn't really a preview of the new season of Burn Notice (which premieres next Thursday, and note that it's at a new time, 9 PM), but it is a fun extended promo for the show. USA Today has a good piece on the show, including a set visit and info on what we can expect this season.
They've had Seth Green, Shaq, and ZZ Top already, and now Monday Night RAW has another special guest this Monday. Guess who. 
USA has to be rather pleased. Last week, the top rated show on cable was Burn Notice. And their newest series Royal Pains is hanging in there impressively in fourth place, creating a powerful Thursday night lineup. As a reward, word has it that USA has renewed both Burn Notice and Royal Pains.
(S03E06) It seems like this season of Burn Notice has been all about friends and family. You know, like the cell phone deal. Michael has been relying more and more on family -- and yes, that means Fiona and Sam to me -- and picking up new friends week in and week out. As Michael has pointed out a few times, he's more valuable as a friend than an enemy. By the time we reach the end of the summer, Michael may have to throw a party to celebrate the new friendships he's made.
It seems like everyone is out to get Burn Notice's Michael Westen in one way or another. An old buddy from the spy days will come back to see him and he'll end up being a bad guy, or he'll have other evildoers trying to kill, control and/or blackmail him. Now we have another one coming to the show for four episodes, and it's someone who was in not one but two different recent FOX shows.
(S03E04) That pesky Detective Paxson of the Miami PD continued to be a thorn in Michael's side, to the point that Michael decided it was time to extract her from his life. To get Paxson -- one royal pain in the butt who doesn't believe that Michael's one of the good guys -- Michael concocts a plan to help her close her case against Rick Matheson, a real bad guy. 
(S03E02) I love Sam Axe, which is another way of saying Bruce Campbell makes watching Burn Notice a pleasure. Especially an episode like this one that was all about the chemistry between Sam and Mike when working undercover on a case with a nut job criminal intent on leaving Michael swimming in a pool of his own blood. 
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