Burn Notice

That's right. I was off ill this week and picked Burn notice up on Amazon prime. Not being able to do much else I watched every season and was not disappointed. The comedy, the action and all the actors working perfectly together. I would never have thought to put them together but it's brilliant. Watch out for Bruce Campbell as the star of the show. You won't regret giving this a go.

Which is a comment you will seldom find in my reviews.

First of all, the concept. The whole idea of a "burn notice" forcing a spy to take roots in a community is very clever. Really.

And the casting. I call this "Leprechaun Casting" because Donovan's career both before and even after the show was unspectacular. But in this part, in a successful series which ran for years, he was nothing less than brilliant. Almost as though elves pulled him out nowhere just for this role, and then disappeared into the forest with him after.

The setting is also clever, relying on an old Hollywood adage which says, to improve your odds, cast in a city that people wish they lived in. Check.

Even the voice-over works and works well. Voice-over seems like an easy thing to pull off, but in fact it isn't. Which is why it dropped out of favor in the 1940s and has been used very sparingly ever since.

Estrogen content? Check. Gabrielle Anwar, in a part which really is more a sidekick than a love interest, manages to "sashay" between scenes (yet another word I do not use often) and also manages to give the impression that she is on "slow simmer" even when all she is doing is mixing explosives or hot-wiring a car. (If you are a male reader, you will get that.)

Supporting cast? Bruce Campbell plays his role like he was already happily retired and the casting director begged him to come out of retirement just for this part, and then gave him permission to sit down and drink while delivering his lines. (Which may be the way it actually happened, I don't know).

I will confess it took about three episodes for me to get hooked. Like I said off the top, this is a one of a kind. But it is a fun ride.

Last week Thursday was one of those days: The kind that gives you the choice of staring at the ceiling, or perusing your DVR in hopes of finding something worthwhile (but rarely finding anything).

After sifting through the various MythBusters episodes and my regularly recorded series', I came across something that had me utterly confused, "'Burn Notice'? The hell?" I hadn't heard anything about the show, so I thought, "Screw it, I'm bored, let's see if I can't squeeze some water from a stone." I can honestly say, I'm utterly impressed with the show. I was floored by the entire piece.

Jeffery Donovan leads a very talented cast as the 'burned' spy-turned-private-eye Michael Westen, a man just trying to figure out why someone would put a 'burn notice' out on him. (For those who haven't seen the show or the commercials a 'burn notice' is when a spy is cut off, no jobs, nothing.) Donovan's acerbic delivery and amusing narration pull the show together, and his on-screen chemistry with acting veteran Bruce Campbell really keep the laughs coming.

I'd highly recommend the show for those who like a mix of comedy and espionage.

This show has stylish, cheaply made and lots of fun. Donovan has a lot of charisma but Bruce Campbell and the other supporting cast really make this show pop. Miami is great location for this show. In the future it would be cool to see it move around season to season. The show is smartly written and avoids most of the spy standards. It would be nice if they reduced the amount of voice over. It tends to distract from the suspense, but it's not driving me nuts or anything.

I'll keep watching to see where this show goes, I think it has a lot of potential and is a great, light, fun summer watch.

USA appears to have a winner on its hands with this new summer show!

I watched this show when it first came out and now i'm doing a full on binge-watch 14 years later.

If you like clever, well written, and spy stuff, you're probably gonna like this show a lot.

The narration style really gives Burn Notice that extra edge. So good.