Posts with tag gabrielle anwar
Posted Aug 26th 2008 3:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

Writing a tie-in novel to a popular (and current) TV show can't be an easy thing to do. Some of them are pretty lousy, dashed off to appeal to fans of the show and/or cash in on the show (and let's not even get into fan fiction). The author also has to be careful not to tick off loyal fans who know the show backwards and forwards. What if you get the voice wrong? What if you get character information wrong or change something in the show's world that fans don't buy (and actually ticks them off)? What if you suddenly make the lead character a robot or a leather bondage fanatic?
Luckily none of those things are a problem in the first
Burn Notice tie-in novel,
The Fix. It's written by
Tod Goldberg, author the the novels
Fake Liar Cheat,
Living Dead Girl, and the short story collection
Simplify, and it's his
first journey into the world of TV show tie-ins. It's quite good. Fans will be pleased and it works as a separate little adventure as well.
Continue reading Burn Notice: The Fix - Book Review
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 8th 2008 8:42AM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S02E05) "Sammy's gettin' some hammy tonight." - Sam Axe
How great was it seeing Michael and Fi still sitting in that car? I like to imagine that they were sitting there for an entire week while we waited for the new episode.
Not that I didn't enjoy Michael's how-to on exposing covert security but I feel bad for the delivery guy. As if it isn't bad enough to get to the delivery and realize you've been pranked, this poor guy is also going to get the crap beaten out of him. No wonder Michael helps everyone he meets. He has a lot of bad karma to make up for.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Scatter Point
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 10th 2008 11:19PM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S02E01) Man, it's been a long time since last season. I remembered very little of what they showed in the recap and after being reminded, I was hungry for the new season.
It occurs to me as I'm watching this episode that Michael Westen is a less philanthropic MacGyver. He knows a lot of tricks that will help you in sticky situations but he's smart enough to keep most of them to himself. I, personally, have never had to run from the police but if I ever do, I now know the best way to stop the airbags from going off.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Breaking and Entering (season premiere)
Posted Jul 10th 2008 6:37PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Web, Talk Show, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

Just in time for tonight's second season premiere of Burn Notice comes this little piece of news from the studios at NBC.
Two guys on the staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien are so ticked off at the ads for the USA show (USA is part of the NBC Universal family) that appear in the building that they decided to deface them. The insults range from dialogue bubbles that say "It 'Burns' when I pee" and "Thanks for the 'Notice' " to this entry on the Late Night blog where the staffers complain about the ads and explain their actions. It is kinda funny how many of these ads NBC puts in their own building.
Of course, the blog entry isn't all bad and acts as a nudge-nudge wink-wink push for the show. Despite the graffiti, the Late Night guys do say that the show is "awesome," "smart," and "funny," and they even want to make sure you watch the show tonight. (And I'd like to repeat that too - watch Burn Notice tonight at 10 on USA!)
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
Posted Jun 24th 2008 10:57AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

Miami in June is hot. Very hot. On the set of
Burn Notice, however, everything is cool. In fact, when I arrive at the Coconut Grove studios where the USA spy drama is shot, I find myself smack dab in the middle of a full-fledged film studio.
The old convention center, where I remember going to an indoor flea market in the late 1970s, has been completely transformed. There are trailers, production offices, standing sets, all geared up and working to bring
Burn Notice back for season two.
Continue reading Burn Notice: A day on the set
Posted Jun 20th 2008 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

On USA's spy-action-comedy series
Burn Notice, there are great actors all around. Recently, I had the chance to spend a day on the set of
Burn Notice (more on that next week!), and share in round-table interviews with the stars of the show.
Here's one of those wonderful actors, the irreverent and brilliant Bruce Campbell. As Sam, Jeffrey's old friend -- and sometime nemesis -- from the spy wars, Campbell is having a ball filming in South Florida and stealing scenes like nobody's business. Oh, and he smells good, just like
Old Spice.
Q: What is the character of Sam about?
Bruce Campbell: He's about 50. No, he's like the other characters in the show, damaged goods, which is why I like him.
Continue reading Bruce Campbell: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Aug 9th 2007 12:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals
In addition to the recent renewals and new episode orders for TNT's Saving Grace and The Closer, the USA Network has ordered up thirteen new episodes of Burn Notice.
Burn Notice is great summer fare: a series that doesn't exactly break new ground but is still fun to watch. USA's motivation in picking new shows has been to focus on strong characters, and that's exactly what keeps Burn Notice from being just another crime/detective/mystery series (even though it is just another crime/detective/mystery series). It's also what keeps me tuning into Monk after all these years, even though every episode is pretty much the same. The lead players, Jeffrey Donovan, Sharon Gless, Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar, work well within the sometimes cookie-cutter self-contained plots, elevating the series to something worth checking out each week. It's not the plots so much, it's the people.
Continue reading USA orders more episodes of Burn Notice
Posted Jul 9th 2007 3:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Ratings
Four million people tuned into the series premiere of USA Network's Burn Notice two weeks ago, and they held on to most of those viewers last week.
The Thursday night show has become a hit for USA. Most shows get big numbers for their premieres, because of lots of advertising and curiosity (*cough* Studio 60 *cough*), but don't hold on to them. It looks like fans like viewers like Burn Notice enough to give it another shot.
Continue reading Looks like Burn Notice is a hit
Posted Jun 29th 2007 12:19PM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews
(S01E01) The first thing that struck me about Burn Notice was how the show appealed to my senses. While watching the show, I could almost feel the heat of the sun, smell the salt water and taste the Pina Coladas.
I really appreciated the lack of explanation in the pilot. Most of us have already gotten the premise from the ads for the show, so once the action kicked in, right at the beginning, I was hooked. Generally, I don't like voice-overs but it was a great way to give details that make the show very interesting. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was getting MacGyver flashbacks when Michael was explaining how to make a listening device out of two cell phones.
Continue reading Burn Notice: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Dec 3rd 2006 1:31PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, TNT

Well, not that early, considering it premieres tonight on TNT. But it is early enough to let you know that if you are fan of the first Librarian film you will probably like the second installment as well. And, even if you never saw the first one you'll still enjoy it.
For those who are unfamiliar with the film series, The Librarian stars Noah Wyle (ER's Doctor John Carter) as Flynn Carson, holder of 22 college degrees and 'librarian' of the Metropolitan Public Library. Actually, Flynn's job is to find and protect historical and sometime magical items that are stored in the special section of the library. His position of librarian takes him around the world in search of said items, and it sometimes leads to situations no normal librarian would be involved with. I mean, librarians usually aren't held at gunpoint by villains whose books are overdue.
Continue reading The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines -- an early look