Bruce Campbell and The Real Return of Saturday Night TV

In a positive counter article to my tirade about the new A Team movie a few hours ago, I would like to bring to the attention of the uninitiated a wonderful show that has been running for some years in the US, but has failed to make it big over here so far.

Burn Notice is a very simple story concerning ex spy Michael Weston, played by Jeffery Donovan. Weston has been ‘burned’, which means that his assets are frozen and he is now essentially a fugitive from the law. When you get burned, you are stuck wherever you end up, which in this case, just happens to be sunny Miami.

Weston teams up with his ex girlfriend (and also ex IRA operative) Fiona Glenanne (played by Gabrielle Anwar, from ‘Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead’ and ‘Press Gang’ oddly enough. Yes. That ‘Press Gang’, the one with sofa lipped Dexter Fletcher). The icing on the cake is Sam, played with gusto by Bruce Campbell.

The trio spend each episode helping out local unfortunates (gullible son in trouble with loan sharks after trying to help his sick mother, that sort of thing) whilst Michael gets closer to discovering who ‘burned’ him. It’s all mixed up with the exact elements that made TV so great in the past. It’s witty without being smug or self satisfied. It has an abundance of spy tips and cool little sequences in which Weston and Sam (an ex Navy Seal) put their collective heads together to outwit the bad guys.

The shows are just under an hour and in the classic vein of Magnum PI or The A Team, they feel like little mini movies. The scripting is spot on and the pace compelling. It’s also the sort of thing that you can put on in front of almost anyone.

Weston’s mother, a delightful and acerbic chain smoking retiree is played by Sharon Gless, who was Cagney in Cagney and Lacey. The strong point of the show is that it takes the viewer on an escapist route through espionage, exploitation, extortion and general badness, all being taken care of by the most enjoyable on screen trio I have seen in years.

Campbell excels in this programme. The perfect sidekick, he exudes charisma and seems far happier to play the backup character as some of his leading man roles of late have been somewhat disappointing.

Burn Notice is coming to the end of it’s third season at the moment and has been commissioned for a fourth. I am watching them as they get released and I have to say, I haven’t had this much fun since I used to watch Tom Selleck run down the beaches of Hawaii in his little red shorts. After I was served the restraining order, however, I had to make do with watching Magnum PI on TV, but you understand what I’m getting at here. Find yourself the seasons and enjoy, you’ll be glad that you did.

NB: Fiona’s accent changes after the pilot thankfully. It just serves to prove that the majority of English actresses cannot pull off a convincing Irish accent.

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