Welcome to Miami
Four weeks after it aired, I finally watched the pilot of Burn Notice. Pilots being just the introduction, I rarely find myself making judgments on the entire season, no matter how bad it might be. Except with Psyche, that was awful.
In fact, it was my severe disappointment with Psyche that made me wary of trying out another USA show. The lead actor's name didn't ring any bells but his face sparked a flicker of recognition. I didn't realize who he was until the episode started, and still I had to imdb to make sure: he played Kyle, Jarod's brother on The Pretender. Wasn't a big fan of him then, I thought I saw what they wanted to do with the character but the actor has too much sticking out of the role. C. Thomas Howell has a similar effect to me, and I cringe whenever he's on screen.
But the show also has Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell, to whom I have high loyalty.
Characters
Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen
Despite my history with the actor, he managed to pull away from the negative impression I brought to the show.
Westen's kind of a latter day-Robin Hood, at least as his A story introduced him. Helping out the little guy with his spy-skills. Sometimes he went farther than I expected: shooting the neighbor-drug dealer, causing Pyne to shoot Vince and putting his fingerprints on the insides of the gun to firmly tie it in court. He's also somewhat of a McGyver type, using what's around and hobbling together listening devices, rather than slick high-tech pieces.
Donovan won me over about halfway through, when he cut through the line of black clubbers to reach his apartment, then built a pipe-bomb at 2 in the morning accompanied by techno music and a voiceover. However, the family moments (mom crying on his shoulder, looking at pictures, recollections of his father) turned me off. I felt the writers were too heavyhanded in painting the relationships.
I'm optimistic Donovan's capable of establishing a character I have fun with, rather than being a chore to watch.
Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona
I've half-heartedly followed Gabrielle Anwar's career since the early 90's. I saw her in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a few other smaller movies. She kind of disappeared for a while (rather like her Scent of a Woman co-star, Chris O'Donnell) which saddened me, and I didn't bother to watch the few movies she did make.
Now, she's run across my radar again and it's good to see her back. The part isn't as plum a landing as Rita for Julie Benz in Dexter, but at least the girl got 10 episodes of work.
I was listening for her English accent in her first scene and thought some things sounded a bit off. Found out later she was "building bombs for the IRA," and seeing as her name was Fiona, I made the clever deduction that she was attempting an Irish accent. To be honest she just sounds like a kind of mishmash to me-and working at 4P's I do run across a few genuine articles-but she's so hot, her voice so sultry, she could read me the phone book and I'd still swoon.
Bruce Campbell as Sam
Dear Bruce:
While I'm not a rabid fan, you occupy quite the soft spot in my heart. You were my companion through multiple viewings of Army of Darkness in high school. I also knew you through college as Autolycus through my obsession with Xena. You got to flirt with the adorable Angela Marie Dotchin in the short-lived Jack of All Trades/Cleopatra 2525 hour, and you've popped out of oblivion a time or two since then.
Good to see you in a role I'll be watching.
Love,
Bz
Others
Other Impressions
I've mentioned Dexter a couple of times: David Zayas and comparing the role of Fiona to Rita. I think the shows naturally connect in my mind, since Dexter was a semi-recent watch and they've both got the Miami setting. Watching shows like these, and Nip/Tuck in its earlier seasons, I kind of marvel at the near-alien world it peripherally shows, with the perfect-looking people (girls) wandering around in bikinis. Whenever I see lives like that, usually in shows set in California or Florida, I'm grateful that I didn't grow up expected to be doing those things with my life. I'm short and overweight, and I knew early on I could pull off cute, but I'd never be striking. I can't imagine how miserable I'd be trying to fit in with a crowd like that.
Of course, all that just sets the atmosphere, not the background story/arc for the show. Michael was, without warning, fired and black-listed and he has to hunker down in Miami while he tries to find out why. I guess Fiona's going to stay in town with him, and he's got other ex-spies (Lucy, Sam) to help him. Then there's his family to contend with, a plotline I could so far do without, but I'm not going to write it off completely yet.
Then we have the final scene, the unknown who's photographing Michael and welcoming him to the city. Unlike the treatment of the family, I liked the writers' handling of his/her introduction.
In fact, it was my severe disappointment with Psyche that made me wary of trying out another USA show. The lead actor's name didn't ring any bells but his face sparked a flicker of recognition. I didn't realize who he was until the episode started, and still I had to imdb to make sure: he played Kyle, Jarod's brother on The Pretender. Wasn't a big fan of him then, I thought I saw what they wanted to do with the character but the actor has too much sticking out of the role. C. Thomas Howell has a similar effect to me, and I cringe whenever he's on screen.
But the show also has Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell, to whom I have high loyalty.
Characters
Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen
Despite my history with the actor, he managed to pull away from the negative impression I brought to the show.
Westen's kind of a latter day-Robin Hood, at least as his A story introduced him. Helping out the little guy with his spy-skills. Sometimes he went farther than I expected: shooting the neighbor-drug dealer, causing Pyne to shoot Vince and putting his fingerprints on the insides of the gun to firmly tie it in court. He's also somewhat of a McGyver type, using what's around and hobbling together listening devices, rather than slick high-tech pieces.
Donovan won me over about halfway through, when he cut through the line of black clubbers to reach his apartment, then built a pipe-bomb at 2 in the morning accompanied by techno music and a voiceover. However, the family moments (mom crying on his shoulder, looking at pictures, recollections of his father) turned me off. I felt the writers were too heavyhanded in painting the relationships.
I'm optimistic Donovan's capable of establishing a character I have fun with, rather than being a chore to watch.
Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona
I've half-heartedly followed Gabrielle Anwar's career since the early 90's. I saw her in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a few other smaller movies. She kind of disappeared for a while (rather like her Scent of a Woman co-star, Chris O'Donnell) which saddened me, and I didn't bother to watch the few movies she did make.
Now, she's run across my radar again and it's good to see her back. The part isn't as plum a landing as Rita for Julie Benz in Dexter, but at least the girl got 10 episodes of work.
I was listening for her English accent in her first scene and thought some things sounded a bit off. Found out later she was "building bombs for the IRA," and seeing as her name was Fiona, I made the clever deduction that she was attempting an Irish accent. To be honest she just sounds like a kind of mishmash to me-and working at 4P's I do run across a few genuine articles-but she's so hot, her voice so sultry, she could read me the phone book and I'd still swoon.
Bruce Campbell as Sam
Dear Bruce:
While I'm not a rabid fan, you occupy quite the soft spot in my heart. You were my companion through multiple viewings of Army of Darkness in high school. I also knew you through college as Autolycus through my obsession with Xena. You got to flirt with the adorable Angela Marie Dotchin in the short-lived Jack of All Trades/Cleopatra 2525 hour, and you've popped out of oblivion a time or two since then.
Good to see you in a role I'll be watching.
Love,
Bz
Others
- Ray Wise as Mr. Pyne
I recognized your name in the opening credits, but I couldn't place the actor until you appeared on my screen in all your smarmy-grinned glory. While you seem to be recently relegated to type-casting, I believe your presence lends the show a degree of star power a complete unknown wouldn't have granted. You do have a long history.
- David Zayas as Javier
It took me a second to recognize him because the first shot was from the back, but he just had a decent regular part on Dexter which I watched last winter. I like to watch smaller actors crisscross my viewing radar as minor characters.
Other Impressions
I've mentioned Dexter a couple of times: David Zayas and comparing the role of Fiona to Rita. I think the shows naturally connect in my mind, since Dexter was a semi-recent watch and they've both got the Miami setting. Watching shows like these, and Nip/Tuck in its earlier seasons, I kind of marvel at the near-alien world it peripherally shows, with the perfect-looking people (girls) wandering around in bikinis. Whenever I see lives like that, usually in shows set in California or Florida, I'm grateful that I didn't grow up expected to be doing those things with my life. I'm short and overweight, and I knew early on I could pull off cute, but I'd never be striking. I can't imagine how miserable I'd be trying to fit in with a crowd like that.
Of course, all that just sets the atmosphere, not the background story/arc for the show. Michael was, without warning, fired and black-listed and he has to hunker down in Miami while he tries to find out why. I guess Fiona's going to stay in town with him, and he's got other ex-spies (Lucy, Sam) to help him. Then there's his family to contend with, a plotline I could so far do without, but I'm not going to write it off completely yet.
Then we have the final scene, the unknown who's photographing Michael and welcoming him to the city. Unlike the treatment of the family, I liked the writers' handling of his/her introduction.