Burn Notice: Season 1

This has been an excellent watch so far, really took me by surprise at how funny and genuine the writing is for this show. Great overarching storyline, great characters, and a really interesting place for all the action to unfold. Looking forward to the next seasons!

not much political BS... Just personal relationships and entertainment.

The best part of this show, in my opinion, is that the "Good Guy" is actually a good guy. He has ethics, and in doing the right thing avoids doing the wrong thing. Let me explain what I mean.Pick an action hero, pretty much any will do, and they are the good guy, right? Well, sort of. If the "Bad Girl," the one who just killed some innocent person, throws herself at our hero, he'll do the honorable thing and have sex with her, and then turn her in. Wait, honorable?Or our hero will engage in a high speed chase through city streets and residential neighborhoods, with no regard for the potential loss of innocent life. Hey guys, there is a reason the police don't do high speed chases, and it is an ethical one.Or our hero, trying to get away from police who are chasing him, will execute some cool driving maneuver that results in half the police fleet crashing and flipping spectacularly and, often, in slow motion. Wait, what happens when the 911 calls go out tomorrow?Or the hero is an ex-CIA man who wipes out a dozen agents because some nutball at the top wants him terminated and he wants to live. Hard to root for one of our guys killing, um, our guys.And so on.Burn Notice takes a different tack. The hero tries to do the right thing at all times, and, when he cant' he admits it and still does the most ethical thing he can. This is refreshing.For example, the female lead throws herself at him, and he keeps throwing her back because she's a trigger happy bomber. Not many men, hero or otherwise, would through her back. At one point he has to get rid of a drug dealer who has pulled a gun on him before, so he shoots the guy in the leg, and gives him antiseptic and a bandage so he won't walk with a limp after it heals. He steals a car because he has no option, but the voice over says he he will have it back by 5 PM, and he keeps his mother from smoking in it and stinking it up because it isn't his car.This may all seem trivial, but it sets the show and the hero apart from so many others. It gives the show character and depth, and adds to the fun.Highly recommended.

I started watching this solely because Bruce Campbell co-stared. I've been a huge fan of his for years and I'll give anything he does at least one shot. I ended up staying with the show, and buying it, because it's just that good.I've always appreciated Jeffrey Donovan's acting, and in this show he's finally found the perfect role to showcase his slightly out there presence/acting style. He and this role just click in a way that provides some of the best entertainment I've seen on commercial TV in a good long while.I would classify this as something of a dark comedy, humor cropping up in places/things that just shouldn't be funny, but they are here. Shootings, bombings, international terrorism, etc., somehow it just manages to be wry and funny at all the right moments.The characters, major and minor, are all surprisingly well developed, the writing is solid and the plots (the plot of the week and the overall burn notice one) all managed to keep me involved and interested. Enough so that I watched them all more than once, which convinced me to buy the season.The only real weak spot which stops me from giving this five stars is Gabrielle Anwar. Her acting seems somehow weaker than that of her co-stars. It's not a fault of the writing -- I think her character is given just as much of a chance and screen time as everyone else, it just seems to me that the actress herself isn't completely up to this role. At least not yet. I have hope that she'll grow into it and surprise me this season. She's not terrible or anything, so she's far from hopeless, she's just...lacking when held up against Donovan and Campbell. But that isn't enough to stop me from enjoying the show overall, or from recommending it.The price is good and this is well worth owning.

Most TV these days is not worth even switching past with the remote, it is so bad. I have stopped even looking for good shows unless something catches my attention in another way.I got turned on to this at Netflix and was blown away. This is the best TV show I have seen for a long, long time. Mix Miami Vice, Macguyver, the Bourne movies and add a touch of noir detective voice over, and you get the idea. The blend is fresh, exciting, enjoyable to watch, well written, shot, and acted. There is a great blend of drama, action, and comedy, and the writers manage to throw in plot twists and multiple story arcs which keep one guessing, yet do not feel contrived.The characters seem real and believable. The mix and chemistry are great, and the development of characters and long term arcs is very well handled at all levels. Good job to everyone involved in this. In this day and age, it is not easy to create and maintain a good show like this.Highly recommended. I am going to buy seasons 1 and 2, and am waiting anxiously for season 3.UPDATE July 4, 2010:I have now purchased the first three seasons and watched them all. The quality holds up nicely and the show remains really good. I am getting to see the 4th season on Hulu, and will buy it when it is out on DVD. The 4th season started out a bit slow, but seems to be getting back on track. Unless the quality of the show tanks, I will remain a fan and buy the series as it is available on DVD.

Ex CIA who gets 'burned', meaning fired! Why? probably because he tells everybody he meats that he's a spy, not a very good one, mind you. Every baddy seems to know where his dopey mother lives and constantly pop in unnoticed to rearrange the furniture, his girlfriend is supposedly ex IRA, but looks strangely like a florida beach babe and his best buddy is an ex navy SEAL who seems to be missing a brain cell or two and would almost certainly sink if he fell overboard! The scripts are so trite as to be laughable, if only that made this series worth watching, it doesn't!

The basic plot intrigues - a top spy suddenly dumped and seemingly scheduled for disposal. Ever resourceful, Michael Westen vows to find out why. Meanwhile, to keep money coming in, he sets about righting local wrongs....Set in Miami, with scantily clad females in abundance. Strengths include Jeffrey Donovan as the discarded agent. Interestingly he reveals the tricks of his trade. Enjoyably he outwits villains, despatching some quite spectacularly.Such assets, though, compete with much that is superficial and irritating. This includes those closest to Michael - the posturing ex-girlfriend Fiona, gorging mate Sam, chainsmoking mother obsessed with her health.For many, BURN NOTICE has proved addictive. Their reviews tempted me to buy. I wanted to like it but, sadly, the show does not work for me. Do not let that put you off! The series has run into several seasons, I clearly unable to appreciate what others enjoy so much.

'Burn Notice' follows the fortunes (and lack thereof) of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan)- a covert operative for the United States government who suddenly finds himself without a job thanks to a burn notice- an order blacklisting him in the intelligence community. Stranded in Miami, Michael has to take various odd jobs as a bodyguard, private detective and thief (amongst others) in order to make ends meet while trying to find out who is responsible for getting him burned. In this quest, he has help from ex-Navy SEAL Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), former lover and ex-IRA member Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) and- in some instances- his mother Maddy (Sharon Gless).'Burn Notice' is a brilliant take on the spy genre- it incorporates all of the intrigue and action you would expect a series about espionage to have, as well as introducing memorable characters and a dash of humour to the proceedings. I have yet to meet anyone who hasn't enjoyed it, and will still give my highest recommendation to anyone else.

Very entertaining and a nice change. Subtle comic moments and light entertainment, for when you want to be entertained but don't want to have to work too hard at keeping up with complicated plots. Some very interesting facts about spies and tricks of the trade performed by a charming young man who plays the part of the impeccably dressed, quick witted and talented spy that we all want to believe is the typical spy out there doing what is right (but probably nothing like the real thing). It's the perfect 'switch off, be entertained and get a nice warm fuzzy feeling about the World' in these difficult times.

novel approach, different, with humour. Not sure I would watch the rest of the series though as the format gets quite predictable. UPDATE - on 2nd watching de-rated this from 4 star (good) to 3 star (average)