TV show reviews: Burn Notice

Burn Notice is the second great comedy/drama to come out of the USA network this summer (the first one being The Starter Wife). Michael is the main character, played with wit and charm by Jeffrey Donovan, who was a spy/contractor/CIA operative and gets a “Burn Notice” in the middle of a negotiation in Africa and is subsequently dumped in Miami(by the government I assume, but this is part of the mystery), with assets frozen and credit ruined and a 24/7 FBI tail. Michael is desperate to find out who burnt him and get back into the spy game, and this quest becomes the main story around which the weekly sub-plots revolve.

Michael has to earn money so he starts to do some private eye work, which he is mostly manipulated into by hisMom (Sharon Gless), and during these jobs he gets to use all his spy skills, and shares some wonderful tips with the audience, making the show not only entertaining, but educational.

Bruce Campbell is his unreliable side kick, Sam and Gabrielle Anwar plays the ex-IRA, gun and bomb happy love interest.

Jeffrey Donovan is effortlessly fantastic in this role, the show is well written, nicely shot and edited and sometimes hilarious.

It’s great to see the basic cable channels producing some quality drama, like Damages on FX, Dirt on FX, the lighter fare of Eureka on Sci-Fi and the USA with Burn Notice and Starter Wife. Now if only the major networks would sit up and take note!