I first came across Burn Notice while flipping through the channels late one night, as I worked the magical graveyard shift for my job. Sometimes I watch TV to pass the time and often I regret passing the time that way. You see, networks tend to repeat blocks of shows late at night: 3 hours of tv recycled for 9 hours… You get used to seeing the same thing multiple times.

This night, however, I stopped when I saw what could only be described as a heavy set middle aged Bruce Campbell sauntering on to the screen.

Heavy set? Middle aged? What was this? This isn’t the young Bruce Campbell I have watched so many times in such favorites as Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Brisco County Jr, or even Hercules?
I mean he looks good in all those…that were made in the 1980’s or early 1990’s…

Oh I guess he would be approaching middle age by now.. Hmm.

SO I stopped to watched. The tale that unfolded kept me interested: A spy had been let go by the government, given a “Burn Notice” with all his assets frozen and identity erased and let go in the mean Streets of Miami, Florida. His only companions are a very sexy yet way to thin former IRA bomber and a not sure if he is really trustworthy ex special ops agent (The previously mentioned Bruce Campbell) living off the good graces of Rich divorced Miami women. And then there is the mom that likes to call way to much as well as the brother that is looking for a quick score.

It intrigued me. I ended up watching the first half of the show I missed as the schedule repeated itself later in the day. I had heard about this show, this Burn Notice, but I had never actually watched it. Not having a TV that actually picks up channels in my house, I find it is hard to keep up on what is new. Heck, according to the commercials that aired throughout this show I had missed the entire first season.

So what was I to do? I Found th show online and, in the matter of a weak, watched all twelve first season episodes. Hey, I do have to catch up! The new season premiers July 10th, which is a Thursday. And I work Thursdays you see…

To make a short story a little bit longer, what are my thoughts on this first season? Do I recommend people rushing to the Internet to see it, or even buying the first season on DVD? In short, yes. Yes I do.

This is one of the best shows I have seen in awhile; probably since I watched the first season of Heroes. I don’t normally do 13 hours of TV in 4 days, but I did this week. There are a lot of things I Loved about this show, and a very few things that annoyed me. Small annoyances that can be overlooked.

What I loved: The Characters. I love the idea of an ex Special Ops agent that is a boozer and sleeps with divorced women just to survive. I also like the idea of an exspy, a new ex spy, trying to figure out what the heck is going on. And his gun and bomb loving former Irish Republican Army lover? Great. It helps that the exspy has morals to go along with his skills and uses them to help out his fellow man..sometimes for no money at all.

I also loved how each episode has an individual story to tell, but there are also pieces that fit in to the over arching plot of the season: the ex spy is just trying to find out why he got burned. From the first episode to the last, it is an element that isn’t forgotten . At the end of the season the questions raised are both answered and left dangling as new questions arise. Great Season ender, by the way. Makes you want to watch the first episode of the next season.

I loved how the show has a dark sense of humor. It isn’t a comedy, by any means, yet there is comedy sprinkled through out. It tends to be stuff that my friends and I would laugh at, I mean if we were in the same situations. Not all of it is gallows humor, but much of it is comes from the situation the characters are in at the time.

I like how not every plan goes smoothly. Not all the plans succeed and some succeed in ways that are unforseen. This seems to be a rare thing in serial television; although good does triumph in the end it isn’t always in the way that you might expect..kind of like real life.

I like how things explode. Explosions are always good. I also like how the ex girlfriends American accent doesn’t quite sound all that american all the time. That leads in to

What didn’t I Like?

Most of these are pretty small quibbles, honestly.

In the first episode the Irish Republican Army girl has a weird Irish accent. She doesn’t the rest of the series, having decided to go native in Miami. They mention this once and kind of drop it; it would be nice to have the cast and the ex girlfriend remember that she is, in fact, Irish.

The mom Although she is played by Sharon Glass of Cagney and Lacy fame, who does a good job at playing her, the mom comes off as a bit to whiny at times It could be me, however: The character really reminds me of my own mother. My loves to call me often about things I don’t find as important as she does, in the most awkward times. Yet my mom wouldn’t just roll over to government agents in her house; she’d fight tooth and nail for every scrap of information they got out of her. SO, saying that, this complaint might just be my own bias

What else do I find wrong? Nothing really, it is a good series. I’m sure if I looked harder I could find things that are wrong: Bad performances, a gun turned one way in one scene and the opposite in the next, whatever. But honestly? This show isn’t so boring that you are stuck watching for that kind of stuff. The stories are good, the acting is good (For the most part.) You don’t always know what will happen. The season has a good over arching plot. It is a successful TV series with Bruce Campbell in it… I mean what is not to like?

I recommend Burn Notice. If you have watched it? Watch it again.

- Warren

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Saturday Afternoon Television, Sections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.