TVSquad

When the new USA series Burn Notice debuts this Thursday at 10:00 p.m., it will air without commercials. The first episode will be presented in its entirety by DIRECTV, so while you won't be seeing any ads, expected to hear a few allusions to the digital satellite TV service during the first couple episodes.

Burn Notice stars Jeffrey Donovan as a CIA spook who is given his "burn notice," (meaning: he no longer works for the CIA) and uses his skills to help out people in need. The series also stars Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar and Sharon Gless.

After the premiere of Burn Notice, Donovan's character Michael Westen will appear to thank everyone for watching. In this segment, Westen will be seen de-activating a tracking bug he found in his apartment, and then tossing it into a frying pan.

TNT will be premiering two new series and the season opener of another this summer without commercial interruptions. The two new shows, Saved and Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, will eschew commercials for product placement and on-air promotions. Saved is being sponsored by Dodge and Quiznos, but no sponsor has been announced for Nightmares and Dreamscapes. In addition, the second season opening of The Closer, which will make up a drama block along with Saved, will also premiere sans commercials, but sponsored by Audi. AOL (which owns TV Squad) will also be integrated into the storylines of both Saved and The Closer.

The idea of a commercial-free episode is nice and all, but I'm somewhat wary of this if the "product placement" or "brand integration" or whatever you want to call it gets too out of hand and distracts from the story. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they can make it as seamless as it needs to be. If not, I'm willing to accept a few commercial breaks.

Chris also picked this story up earlier over on Ad Jab.