Burn Notice: USA's Hit Show Returns July 10th

What would happen if you were a spy the government didn't like? Well hopefully you wouldn't end up like Michael Westen on USA's hot tv show Burn Notice. Burn Notice involves the story of Michael Westen (played by Jeffery Donovan). While working undercover in Nigeria, he discovers he's been burned (i.e. out of the cloak and dagger community) while in the middle of a high stakes operation. After narrowing escaping Nigeria, he awakens from a blackout on a plane to find himself in Miami in the hotel room of a trigger happy ex girlfriend. Now he's determined to find out why he was burned, while taking jobs on the side, and of course dealing with the issues that come along with a dysfunctional family.

While the above paragraph may sound like the makings of a full fledged drama, Burn Notice actually walks the line of between being an action drama and simply a dark comedy. It is a line it seems to walk very well. In some ways it is almost like a modern descendent of shows such as The A-Team, Magnum PI, Knight Rider, or Miami Vice.

Creator Matt Nix has done an excellent job not just writing witty dialogue but also an engaging plot that he seems to have thought out fairly well. As Nix explained in an interview to E! Online last summer "We didn't want to do the perpetual unfolding single mystery that runs out of steam halfway through the second season that you have to keep pushing it along"

A cast of characters with excellent chemistry also factors into this mix of the success of this show. Bruce Campbell (known for many roles including Army of Darkness) plays Michael's ex-FBI buddy Sam Axe. In a way this role seems to be perfectly written for Campbell if for no other reason than the very witty dialogue. Gabrielle Anwar (Scent of A Woman, The Tutors) portrays Michael's ex-girlfriend Fiona Glenanne. Sheron Gless (From Cagney & Lacey) ably plays Michael's mother.

After a very successful first season, the show seems to be doing quite well. USA Network recently announced that the show has been renewed for a sixteen episode second season. That's not all. Season 1 of Burn Notice arrives on DVD on June 17^th. If you can't wait for the DVDs, amazon.com offers episode downloads for $1.99 each. Even a Burn Notice novel is in the works. Written by Tod Goldberg, "The Fix" is expected to hit bookshelves on August 5^th Goldberg has written previous several novels including Fake, Liar, Cheat and Living Dead Girl.