Product Description

Michael Westen is a trained spy who receives a "burn notice" for an unstated reason & effectively is fired. Penniless, he returns to his hometown in Miami and freelances while trying to find who burned him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #491 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2008-06-17
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 535 minutes

Features

• Michael Westen is a trained spy who receives a "burn notice" for an unstated reason & effectively is fired. Penniless, he returns to his hometown in Miami and freelances while trying to find who burned him. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION Rating: NR Age: 024543519317 UPC: 024543519317 Manufacturer No: 2251931

Amazon.com
Burn Notice is a canny, clever comedy-thriller show about a covert operative with a heart of gold. Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is in the middle of a top-secret mission when he discovers he's been "burned"--basically, fired without warning. After barely extricating himself from danger, he wakes up in Miami, where the government has abandoned him and locked him out of his own bank account. To make ends meet, he takes on private detective jobs (helping an old lady who's fallen victim to a con artist; rescuing a young girl who's being tricked into white slavery; helping a mother whose son has been kidnapped by the boy's father... only it turns out the father is the rightful parent and the "mom" is an assassin sent to kill him--a nice guest star appearance by Lucy Lawless, Xena: Warrior Princess), while trying to figure out who burned him and why. Westen tries to remain clinical in his approach to these problems, but he always ends up protecting the helpless with his sophisticated spy skills. Over the course of the first season, he gradually uncovers a mysterious conspiracy that plans to use his talents for their own nefarious ends. Burn Notice deftly mixes the old and the new. The old: Our hero has a hot ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar, Scent of a Woman), a goofy sidekick (cult hero Bruce Campbell of the Evil Dead movies), and a meddling mom (Sharon Gless, Cagney & Lacey) who help and hinder him in his investigations, as well as a MacGyver-esque skill for making deadly devices out of common household products. The new: A media-savvy way of deconstructing the tricks and techniques of spies and government agencies, often resulting in smart and highly entertaining plot twists. Donovan, handsome but cheeky, combines a light comic touch with a convincing secret agent cool, and the supporting cast fill their niches with aplomb. Their escapades are pretty breezy and occasionally skirt being glib, but most of the time the show finds an extremely entertaining balance between action, romance, and humor. The extras are few (some montages of characteristic moments from the series, including one of the many bikini-clad girls the Miami locale provides) and the commentaries, rather than covering entire episodes, just discuss a few select scenes from each show. Fortunately, the series itself holds up; imagine a cross between Magnum, P.I. and The Wild Wild West (the classic series, not the insulting Will Smith movie) and you're on the right track. --Bret Fetzer

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Stills from Burn Notice (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

"A spy is just a criminal with a government paycheck."
Michael Westen: "Most people would be thrilled to be dumped in Miami. Sadly, I am not most people...I've never found a good way to hide a gun in a bathing suit."

When you're a spy, getting a burn notice means that you've been officially deemed unreliable by your covert brethren, and that you're no longer wanted in the cloak-and-dagger community. Always good at rubbing people the wrong way, international spy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan, TOUCHING EVIL) is in Nigeria brokering a deal with a terrorist when he learns of his burn notice over a cell phone. Barely skedaddling out of Nigeria with his life, Michael somehow finds himself stranded in his hometown of Miami, with his finances frozen, his options about nil, and former friends and colleagues keeping far, far away.

Michael decides to lay low for a while and, because a man has just got to make a living somehow, becomes a makeshift private investigator and troubleshooter. But, even as he takes on the criminal elements in Miami, his overriding objective remains finding out why he was blacklisted. But it's hard going as, mysteriously, no one will tell him anything. Meanwhile, various spooks are monitoring his every move. So, something's going on...

Yup, I dig this show. The USA Network's BURN NOTICE proved to be one of the more pleasant surprises of 2007. Not having seen a lot of Jeffrey Donovan's work, I'm still quickly becoming a fan. He brings a wry, deadpan charm to the show, and he looks like there's stuff just churning underneath his character's self-contained exterior. And it's exactly because of this distant persona that I appreciate Michael Westen providing a very quotable, "been there, done that" voice-over narration. This device not only engages us further but also makes us privy to Westen's cynical inner musings, as well as giving us frequently amusing first hand advice on various stuff. No, it's not exactly life lessons that he's imparting. Rather, it's more of a tutorial on espionage and breaking heads. Y'know, the cool stuff. For example, Westen, on fighting: "You don't want to break the little bones in your hands, so you look for a bathroom, which has plenty of hard edges and surfaces." On guns: "Guns make you stupid. Better to fight your wars with duct tape. Duck tape makes you smart." Or on setting traps: "A good trap doesn't scare people, it makes them curious." And, so on and et cetera. Dude's often wry observations make my day. Someone should put together a quotation book, because I'd shell out.

Chemistry rears its beautiful head. Donovan's supporting cast is very good, and two of them are very engaging. Westen's tiny circle of trust consists of three folks. There's his sexy and fiery Irish ex-girlfriend Fiona (gorgeous Brit, Gabrielle Anwar). Fi is an ex-IRA agent and into mayhem and violence, and, of her, Westen unequivocably states, "I am NOT hooking up with her. I need her for tactical support." (sure, sure). Slovenly Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell, who's casually let himself go) is Westen's long-time buddy and a semi-retired spy. Now Sam helps Westen out on cases, and vice versa. And then there's Westen's irritating dragon of a mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless, CAGNEY & LACEY), who is a champion emotional blackmailer. Gless is effective at channeling Doris Roberts from EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. So if you're hating on Gless's character, then she's just being brilliant.

BURN NOTICE, with its first season's 12 episodes, brings it with suspense and some action, and with humor and a rocky romance, even if I could do without the fractured family stuff. It's a well-done lighthearted spy & crime drama, with an element of the sting, and it left me craving for more episodes. Jeffrey Donovan might just have found his breakout role in the glib and uber capable but emotionally detached Michael Westen. Certainly, he makes for a compelling character. I enjoy how he uses his Special Ops training to satisfyingly one-up Miami's teeming lowlifes. And, all along, there's slow progress being made on the whole burn notice arc. The writing is smart, the production values are terrific. And it doesn't hurt that BURN NOTICE is filmed in sun-drenched, visually arresting Miami, so give the show some style points. I definitely don't have anything against babes and bikinis and margaritas and martinis.

Michael Westen, who dislikes his hometown, might beg to differ, but, hey, bienvenido a Miami. And bring on Season 2.

Super Smart and Funny Show
This is a don't miss show for many reasons--including multiple important characters--none of that one person on the screen all the time. Yet the male lead is not only caring, but clever and able to "MacGuyver" and improvise necessary equipment and tools. That adds so much to see inventiveness back on the tube instead of just standing around waiting for the laugh track. Additionally, the female lead LOOKS appropriate. She's an EXPERIENCED, beautiful "agent", member of the spy underground and for a blessed change--she's not some dumb bunny 19 year old. She looks strong, yet there is no fear in letting a little weariness appear on her face. She has earned it. Of course, the always hilarious and smack-on perfect comic timing expert--Bruce Campbell--is the third member of the team. Perfectly slimy, yet dependable in a pinch. This show uses the backdrop of Florida to a "T" and craft their show with good sense. These folks are not always on the right side of the "law". One of my favorite episodes was a notorious, vicious drug dealer received just desserts at the hands of the team. Instead of, once again, watching the bad guys walk away because of legal juggling. Very satisfying.

Fantastic ;-)
I really love this show. It's one of my 'new' favourites. To be honest, I first started watching it because of Jeffrey Donovan, who plays the lead, Michael Weston. I used to watch him in The Pretender and Crossing Jordan and loved him, so I began to see what this was like. It's a great show and I make sure not to miss any episodes. Speaking of episodes, this is how season 1 plays out;
PILOT - Michael Weston, a contract agent for various agencies including the CIA, finds that a burn notice has been issued for him. Stranded in Miami, he takes the case of a caretaker accused of stealing millions from his boss.
IDENTITY - Weston is roped into helping his mother's friend get back money she lost in a scam, but Fi and Sam may ruin everything with their bumbling and bickering.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT - Michael's landlord, Oleg, is having a problem with one of his waitresses. She hasn't come into work because she witnessed a crime committed by a man who just happens to be a member of a local drug cartel. Michael is (mostly) happy to look into it, as he also continues his investigation into who stuck him with his burn notice.
OLD FRIENDS - Michael's brother is back in town, and he involves him in the search for a friend's daughter for less than pure motives. Elsewhere, an agent with a grudge comes after Michael.
FAMILY BUSINESS - Michael takes on arms dealers for an airport worker, while Nate obsesses about the car and their dad's will.
UNPAID DEBTS - Michael helps out an old SEAL buddy of Sam's who has gotten himself on the wrong side of a smuggler while trying to repossess his boat, and a new agent hits town set on making Michael's life miserable since he won't give up on finding his burn notice.
BROKEN RULES - Michael works to rid a community in little Havana of a crime boss, all the while baiting Jason Bly at the risk of his family and friends.
WANTED MAN - Fiona decides to try bounty-hunting, but then convinces Michael to help prove the man innocent.
HARD BARGAIN - A slightly dim house sitter's fiancée has been kidnapped, and Sam guilts Michael into a rescue while he's negotiating with a D.C. bureaucrat to stop the burn notice.
FALSE FLAG - Michael makes plans to leave Miami, but has to do one last job - locate a woman's missing son - so he can get a new identity.
LOOSE ENDS PART 1 - Phillip Cowan has arrived in Miami, but Michael has to put him off when a job involving heroin and blackmail goes south.
LOOSE ENDS PART 2 - With Cowan's bosses now tracking him, Michael must protect his family and rescue Sam all before his own capture if he doesn't move fast enough.
To elaborate just that little bit more, a 'burn notice' is when a spy is cut off, no jobs, nothing. Jeffrey Donovan is great in this and so is Gabrielle Anwar and the writing for this series is sharp. I was hooked from the first episode and I'm sure you'll be too. It's brilliant and I highly recommend it.