Burn Notice - "Pilot"

   When the USA Network's Burn Notice was entering its fourth season, Saturday Night Live aired a skit about a game show called "What Is Burn Notice?"  The show was the eighth highest rated cable show, had been on for four years, and yet no one could say what it was about.  One contestant on the fictional game show answers "Is it like NCIS?", but after asked for further explanation he replies "I don't know." 
    While the skit may have been playing on the fact that so many people don't know about this highly rated television show, it also examines how so many shows are carbon copies of the same three shows.  Often times it's hard to distinguish what show you are watching.  CBS basically has three versions of CSI airing every other night, as NBC does with Law & Order.  This may be a golden age of television, but there are still a number of clunkers hanging around. 
    Upon first glance, Burn Notice may look like it could air right after NCIS.  But judging from the pilot, this is not one of those kinds of shows.  To answer everyone's questions, Burn Notice revolves around Michael Westen (played by Jeffery Donovan), a spy who has been "burned" by his agency.  A burn notice means that life as you know it has been taken away: his bank accounts are frozen and all of his previous contacts won't explain the burn notice.  Receiving his notice while on a mission in Nigeria, he ends up in Miami, where he grew up.  Luckily, he has the help of friends Sam (the always great Bruce Campbell) and his ex-girlfriend Fiona, a former IRA affiliate.  When Westen isn't trying to figure out who put the burn notice on him, he makes money by helping out people who can't go to the police with their problems.  But finding out the source of the burn notice or making money aren't the most of Westen's problems.  As he returns to Miami, he must confront his hypochondriac mother (unaware of his profession) who makes him drive her to the doctor's.  
    One of the most enjoyable aspects of the show is its playfulness.  Westen is not the typical secret agent man.  Jeffery Donovan's sarcastic spy is smart but also has a sense of humor.  He's smart as well, having many rules for his work; he doesn't like to steal cars, but if he has to he'll have it back by five if it's a weekday.  He also doesn't get into high speed car chases, saying they only draw more attention to you, making one wonder why James Bond never got into more trouble than he actually did.  The chemistry between him and Fiona plays well, showing promise to develop even further.  The standout among the cast has to be Bruce Campbell, even if he only has a small amount of screen time.  Having been given cult horror roles in the Evil Dead movies or cameos in the Spiderman series, it's nice to see him on a show where he can act and not simply replay Three Stooges gags (as great as he may be at it). 
    Burn Notice also plays around with juxtaposition.  Westen is a fish out of water; having never worried about money or getting around the world, he is now stuck in Miami with only a mattress to his name and living next door to a drug dealer.  He is surrounded by young people who are puzzled when he asks them for the nearest pay-phone.  The hard boiled narration stands out in the colorful heat while Westen describes how to make a recording device using parts from two cell phones.  The fact that all of this plays out over the Christmas season, associated with winter and snow, adds to the fish out of water scenario.
    Burn Notice may move a little fast at times, but it is highly entertaining.  It stands out from the typical special agent procedural, offering a look into the life that goes on underneath the spy.  It's comparable to the question of "What would life be like for Tom Cruise after Mission Impossible if he had to go home to his overbearing mother?"  Do yourself a favor, watch Burn Notice and find out for yourself what it is.