Sharon Gless-related stories
Posted Aug 7th 2009 1:43AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(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.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Long Way Back (summer finale)
Posted Aug 1st 2009 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Casting, Emmys, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
Based on the previews showing Strickler asking Michael to turn on Fiona, the summer season finale of
Burn Notice promises to be a bang-up episode. Especially after Fiona walked out on Michael last week because of his obsession with getting back in the intelligence community, i.e. getting the burn notice lifted. However, amid all those hijinks will be a reunion that many, many fans will be tuning in to see --
Cagney and Lacey. That's right,
Tyne Daly is guesting on Burn Notice with her former partner
Sharon Gless, a.k.a. Michael's mom.
It's taken more than a year for the powers that be to swing this casting coup, and not surprisingly, they've saved it for the season finale. I'm just hoping that they've found a way to weave it into the main story and not make it just a silly subplot, because Daly and Gless deserve a showcase.
Continue reading Burn Notice reuniting Cagney and Lacey this week - UPDATE
Posted Jul 31st 2009 3:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(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.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Friends Like These
Posted Jul 29th 2009 12:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
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.
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.
Posted Jul 24th 2009 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(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.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Shot in the Dark
Posted Feb 6th 2009 10:13AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S02E12) "That's the thing about spies. You never know who they are." -- Michael
Michael Westen with money troubles? Boy, now you really know how bad the economy is when a burned super spy has to dig up a job to keep himself in Armani suits. Actually, I thought it was a refreshing change of pace that Michael actively pursued an assignment rather than just wait for somebody to come along -- to Sam or Madeline or Fiona -- who needs help that seemingly only Michael can provide.
What was weird is that for much of the episode, the case was much less important than the subtext between Fiona and Michael. This is an interesting development and so different from other classic TV pairings. Watching Fiona and Michael you don't wonder if they'll ever do it, because they've done it. No, you wonder what the heck does it mean and how do they deal with the emotions stirred up by Fiona's near death and Michael's reaction to possibly losing her?
Continue reading Burn Notice: Seek and Destroy
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:33AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S02E10) "Brushes with death are like snowflakes. Each one is unique and icy cold." -- Michael
Well, if you think Michael was ticked off about being burned, you should take his temperature after there's an attempt on his life. This episode, which picked up right after a bomb went off in Michael's loft doorway, had a little bit of everything that makes
Burn Notice one of the best shows on TV. In short, it was great to have it back on the schedule
. And yes, there was little doubt that Michael would survive the blast. It's good to see the Charger and the loft did, too.
Michael has a lot of reasons to be bent out of shape. Carla's still yanking him around and now she's involved his family by having Nate arrested. In one of the few times I can remember on the show, he really lost his cool when he screamed at her, "I want my brother out of jail. I want my life back!" Carla got the message.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Do No Harm (winter premiere)
Posted Nov 28th 2008 12:29PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Grey's Anatomy, In the Limelight, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
I've been a fan of Tyne Daly going back to her
Cagney & Lacey days. I loved that show! It kind of made me want to be a cop - for about three minutes anyway.
So I was ultra excited when I heard she would be playing McDreamy's mom on
Grey's Anatomy. Isabelle posted
a spoiler about it last week. Apparently, Tyne will be playing Derek's mom, Carolyn, who travels to Seattle to meet Meredith for the first time. You know, I can really see her as Derek's mom. That's good casting.
I've got a little clip below from
Access Hollywood, but first, let me sing Tyne's praises for a minute. Here's a woman who never really fit into the Hollywood "mold" (i.e. blonde and/or thin and/or a party animal), and that's probably why she's been working steadily in the entertainment industry for some 50 years. Yes, on
her IMDB page, her first credit was "girl" in a TV show called
Foreign Intrigue in 1954. She went on to do bit parts in dozens of TV shows until landing the role of Detective Mary Beth Lacey in
Cagney & Lacey from 1982 to 1988.
Continue reading In the Limelight: Tyne Daly as McDreamy's Mom - VIDEO
Posted Aug 19th 2008 11:21AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Emmys, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
Here's a neat idea: the
Burn Notice promotional kits that USA Network sent out to Emmy voters were written in invisible ink! You needed a UV flashlight to read the words, which was included in the kit.
The Denver Egoist has all of the details and several pics from the kit, created by TDA Advertising in Boulder, CO.
The kit, which contains 12 episodes of the show on four DVDs, is set up to look like a classified file, and though some of the words are legible, you need the flashlight to read the others. Very cool and very spy-ish, though I wonder if they should have done it a different way. Isn't the preferred method of getting secret messages to Michael via a crossword puzzle? They should have included a secret message about the show inside of a crossword too.
Continue reading Burn Notice promo kits are cool, but ...
Posted Aug 4th 2008 11:23AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Reality-Free, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight
I guess it's something that a show like
Burn Notice has reached a certain kind of significance in the culture that even
The New Yorker stands up and takes notice of it. I'm just not sure if the reviewer likes the show or just tolerates it.
Nancy Franklin is often good in her analysis of a TV show or a TV genre, but she seems to have gotten tired of
Burn Notice already. While she likes the Miami location and loves Bruce Campbell (deservedly so), she thinks the show is already getting tired. She's not buying the tension between Michael and Fiona, and she thinks the mom/Michael stuff is just too much. She also compares Jeffrey Donovan to Frank Gorshin's Riddler from
Batman, which isn't fair (she also gets a fact wrong - Sam is not secretly reporting on Michael to the government, Michael knows about it).
Continue reading I'm not sure if The New Yorker likes Burn Notice or not
Posted Jul 20th 2008 2:27PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
I'd like to think that I'm the kind of person that gets in on cool things at the start, you know? There's just something about jumping on the bandwagon that's less attractive than being able to say, "Oh, yes. I was into that from day one." So, while I can proudly declare that I was a charter member of the
Mad Men audience, I was late to
Burn Notice. I missed the boat on
Burn Notice, okay! There, I said it.
Fortunately for me, I've had the chance to catch up. I even got to
visit the set. The USA Network rebroadcasts and occasional marathons have helped -- hooray for DVRs -- but I really think it was the
Burn Notice Season One DVD set that filled in all the blanks. Reasonably priced and recently released, the set has become one of my favorites, as had the tale of Michael Westen, professional spy who has been inexplicably fired -- burned -- and dumped in Miami. There's a lot to like in this show, and in this DVD set.
Continue reading Burn Notice Season One - DVD Review
Posted Jul 18th 2008 2:02AM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S02E02) "Who's the puta now?" Me after Sophia revealed herself to Raul.
As I watch Michael have his meeting with Carla, I can't help but wonder what I would do in his situation. On the one hand, like Michael, I would really be obsessed with finding out who burned me and why. When you've been a spy as long as he has, it's impossible to let that kind of thing go.
On the other hand, Carla seems to be a good number of steps ahead of Michael at all times, so maybe the best thing to do is just follow her instructions and play by her rules until she finally comes across with the information. It's got to be damn frustrating to be outsmarted by her every time.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Turn and Burn
Posted Jul 17th 2008 2:11PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Emmys, Reality-Free
I'm going to share my Emmy thoughts, but there's so much to digest, I figured I'd space it out a bit. If you missed the announcement, check out
Bob's live blog.
First thought: Why do I feel like I did when the Daytime Emmy nominations were announced? Oh yeah, because all
these nominations are predictable! Where's the surprises, where's the nominations from out of left field? These nominations lack the element of shock, at least to me. Here's my thoughts, plus I dug through the whole list and found some other interesting items...
Continue reading My reactions to the Emmy nominations, part one
Posted Jul 12th 2008 1:35PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
Part James Bond, part Jason Bourne, all Jeffrey Donovan. That's the recipe for the coolest spy on TV today, Michael Westen on
Burn Notice. Meeting Jeffrey Donovan recently, I was impressed with not only his charm, good looks and dedication to his craft, but also his determination to shoulder the responsibility and reward of his very own primetime series.
Nobody's handed anything to Jeffrey Donovan. He's been at it for a while, doing notable turns in
CSI: Miami and
Monk, playing recurring characters in
The Pretender and
Touching Evil, and practically stealing
Hitch from Kevin James and Will Smith by playing a nasty S.O.B.
Like his alter ego, Jeffrey Donovan is a very cool customer. He never lets you see him sweat, even when he's got ever right to in the glare of the spotlight, the heat of the Miami sun, and the hardball questions of the media roundtable he was facing. Okay, we weren't all throwing hardballs, but as this Q&A shows, Jeffrey D. can handle himself in any and all situations.
Continue reading Jeffrey Donovan talks about Burn Notice
Posted Jun 27th 2008 10:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
On my recent
visit to the set of Burn Notice, I had the pleasure of meeting the cast, including the irrepressible
Bruce Campbell, the plucky Gabrielle Anwar, and the fascinating star of the show, Jeffrey Donovan. They were all wonderful and I was thrilled to participate in a round-table interview with them. However, when I had the chance to shake the hand of
Sharon Gless, the Emmy-winning actress who starred in
Cagney & Lacey, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill and played amazing characters on
Queer as Folk and Nip/Tuck, I have to confess -- I gushed. I couldn't help it. She's Sharon Gless!
I discovered that as brilliant as she is a performer, Sharon Gless is also a class act with the media. She talked about another
Cagney & Lacey, Tyne Daly, acting, playing villains,
Kim Cattrall and much more. Read on and you'll see -- as I did -- why you'd gush to if you were face-to-face with Sharon Gless.
Continue reading Sharon Gless: The TV Squad Interview
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