So I just started watching this show (online) and after the first episode I like it. However, it seems a bit like the guy is MacGuyver but an actual bad-ass on top of it.
Does it stay consistent through the same 3 series? Should I let myself fall in love with the series, or will it end in next season like Chuck?
Burn Notice is rather well-loved on this board. And it is one of the most popular cable series out there ratings-wise, so it is in no danger of being canceled any time soon.
They don’t mess much with the formula…much like Monk, most every episode unfolds in a similar way. But unlike Monk (where for the most part almost all episodes are pretty much self-contained), each season has a separate underlying storyline that advances from episode to episode.
That’s very good to know. Shows I like either end by being canceled (Dead like me, Firefly, Chuck, etc), or they kind of start to become less interesting (Smallville or Heroes for instance – though I still occasionally watch them if nothing else is on).
I like Monk, though I think I’m a bigger fan of Pysche.
For the record: Chuck hasn’t been canceled. In fact, NBC has announced that it will return on Jan 10.
Yeah Burn Notice will be on for a while I think. If you like Burn Notice, White Collar is fun.
I guess the one reason I haven’t watched White Collar (which I watch almost all other USA original programming) is because the lead completely underwhelmed me when he played a prominent role on…Chuck.
And now the circle is complete.
BN is a bit cliched and repetitive, and the “mytharc” is just like every other mytharc (as in, nothing meaningful ever happens, we the viewers just keep getting teased), but I love the actors and their synergy (esp. Bruce Campbell).
Feel free to fall in love. *Burn Notice *is consistently great show after show. Just don’t fall in love with Fiona’s accent, as she soon realizes it is too dangerous to sound like an IRA terrorist.
Burn Notice reminds me of Magnum PI. A hero for hire, with a bunch of mates who helps him in his cunning plans. With lots of gun fights and explosions.
The A-Team meets James Bond.
Burn Notice stays good. 
Er, no, it gets better.
I discovered **Burn Notice **about 2 months ago and was hooked from the get-go. Keep watching. It gets much funnier.
Thank you! I’ve said that many times. Cagney (or is it Lacey?) = Higgins, Bruce Campbell = Rick+TC, the Dodge Charger = the Ferrari, and yogurt = beer. The opening Voice Over is the icing on the cake. The only element I haven’t been able to match is Fiona. I’d hate to equate her to Agatha.
I love Sharon Gless as the chain smoking “You can risk your life to bring down a drug kingpin but can’t spare ten minutes to fix my sink when you’re using me as a safehouse for a Russian white slavery refugee?” mom.
You can’t compare Fiona to a female counterpart. She’s Rick, providing the gear, where Sam Axe is also Rick, providing the intel.
TC’s only role was providing the helicopter, and I think the best equivalent you can make for him is Barry, who seems to know everything about everybody, and will tell the guys what they need only if they bribe or threaten him enough.
To the OP, while each episode has self contained plots one thing I like about the show is that there are story arcs. Each season has it’s own, but the overall arc is Michael trying to get back into the (whatever initials he was in- they’ve said CIA and not CIA).
Careful about watching the show a lot – I’ve been eating a lot more yogurt due to all the yogurt eating on-screen!
I’m a Sam fan myself.
Sam’s one of the best supporting characters in action/good guy v bad guy fair since Huggy Bear. I like him because he’s devious enough to be interesting but loyal enough to be likeable. He sponges off rich women* and plays both sides of the street (at least initially) with Mike and the FBI but he isn’t a bad sort at all, and while he’s let himself go a bit on the mojitas and fried chicken and is good for comedy relief he’s nobody’s fool and can still throw a punch. I particularly like the episodes where he and Fi have to work together (such as when they briefly wind up in bed together on a houseboat as an impromptu guise).
I mentioned before that Bruce Campbell’sresemblance to James “Roscoe P. Coltrane” Best- who actually lives in south Florida now- makes me hope they’ll cast him as Sam’s dad in some episode. (My fan-fic suggestion: I see Sam’s dad looking up Bruce to patch things up before he dies- and just coincidentally he happens to be a cross between Cotton Hill and Howard Hunt who’s lived for many years off of blackmailing super powerful D.C. figures and families with 30-40 year old documents and somebody is now trying to kill him.)
*One of the biggest surprises of the show was what a tiny role they gave to Audrey (or Judy? whichever) Landers as his sugar mama.
My favorite character is Chuck Finley. Man, that guy can do anything!
