So I’m watching the latest season of Burn Notice, and something has become blatantly obvious. You know the big white building they use in the overhead shots as Michael’s loft? You know how the exterior has the stairway, the enclosure for the cars? Well, past events have had a couple of fires and explosions and whatnot. So in the close up views you see the wall’s are all rusty and dirty and such. Well, in the overhead shots you can see that the walls are still white, not discolored or damaged at all.
And then something else stands out. The stairwell that goes up the side of the building to the front door? Well, the close up shot actually has a slight bend at the landing outside the door, but the overhead shot does not have a bend - the stairwell is straight up the side, and runs up beyond the second story.
I didn’t used to pay attention to any minor differences, but the discoloration really stands out and makes it harder to ignore the rest.
A friend of mine wanted to find some of the regular locations from Burn Notice when he was visiting Miami last year. He didn’t find any - because they are all sets and were taken down between shooting blocks.
I’ve noticed the color difference, plus his loft is over a busy nightclub on a street and the aerial shots are on the water and not conducive to operating a nightclub.
The main thing I’ve been noticing this season is Jeffrey Donovan’s acting. Is it me or is he getting worse?
EXT: jetskis slaloming playfully through the bay, Latin music.
Voiceover: You see Irishman, when you’re a TV spy, it’s important to remember that reducing the budget for continuity directors, can leave you extra money, for bigger trailers, and better craft services.
I like knowing about the little continuity errors but that’s me. I really like it when the writer/producer/director knows but keeps it anyway. At least it’s a choice they made.
I don’t get people complaining about Burn Notice as I think it’s been just as good. I haven’t watched first season in a while, so maybe doing that would give me a different perspective. Also, I have been watching it on TV since season three, so it’s been years for me.
GuanoLad, I figured it was sets, but it just stands out so much more now that the close up of Michael’s buiding does not match the long shot. I mean, I don’t think I really gave it much consideration after getting established in season 1, but when the establishing shot has a bright white building, then the zoom in has a rusty brown staining everywhere, it’s jarring, and breaks the suspension of disbelief.
Well, admittedly the location probably isn’t ideal for a nightclub, but they’ve used the closeness to water in the storyline, and they’ve always treated it that way. Plus, I know a couple of busy nightclubs on the water here in Houston (well, Clear Lake), so that’s just not a deal-breaker. All you need is parking somewhere reasonably close, which doesn’t jump out but doesn’t jump out as exceptionally missing, either.
I don’t think so, but then I’m not a particularly useful standard of measure.
Define “improved”. I was worried how they would keep it “Burn Notice” after he had captured all the bad guys (apparently in the haitus) and was on his way back in to being an official op. But then
They killed his handler and tried to frame him for it, leaving him with a wonder who is still gunning for him, if there’s some element of the people who burned him who are still out there, and most importantly how he’s going to keep from getting framed on this.
A couple other comments:
Way back originally for the premiere, he wasn’t officially CIA. He was a covert op working for some cover agency who didn’t directly draw a CIA paycheck, because it helped cover his tracks and all. Now he’s an independent contractor doing jobs for the CIA before being fully reinstated. Um, what’s the difference?
Remember the second episode (IIRC) when he called his old handler and made a nuisance of himself to attempt to get info on his burn notice? The black guy with the bullet in a paperweight on his desk? Now that Michael is back in, what happened to him? He was supposed to be Mike’s friend and to be rooting for him. Magically forgotten. For a show notable for dragging up old characters to reprise their roles periodically (Barry, Sugar, etc), this is uncharacteristic that they haven’t mentioned him at all.
I notice he is getting executive producer credits and don’t recall that in past seasons (although maybe I missed that). In which case, that might be stressing him out, doing both the lead role and producing the show.
We still like the show a lot, and are happy they are starting to let mom (Sharon Gless) be a part of some of the capers now. She’s too good of an actress to have sitting at home, clueless and moaning about Michael not coming to lunch.
Usually when an actor becomes an Executive Producer it means they sit in on new kinds of meetings and have some say in the direction and stories of the show. They don’t gain any stressful responsibilities or organise funding or anything like that.
The cars irritate me for several reasons:
[ul]
[li] Are they stealing all those random cars they either wreck or just abandon after using them for a few hours? I guess they’re buying them maybe with fake identities, but those IDs better be ironclad, like last week where they left two of them behind and stole the truck with bullets in it. I know they will sometimes add a line about Sam borrowing one from a g/f, but most of the time they don’t.[/li][li] I reeeally don’t think Fiona would drive around in a Hyundai that’s slower than and could get pancaked by my Subaru. Don’t tell me it’s for blending in - if so, then why is it My Little Pony Blue? [/li][li] Speaking of blending in, if I were an expert criminal and therefore probably pretty good at spotting tails, I’d sure as hell notice a pristine black 73 Dodge Charger following me around. Plus, that thing’s gotta be not-so-great at high speed pursuit itself.[/li][/ul]
She reminded me so much of my mother in the scene where she’s holding a lit cigarette while her baby grandchild is in the room. I hope they bring Tyne Daly back, which would be easy: just have her character from last time need help with something since they owe her bigtime.
There was an odd car related thing I noticed in Season 1. In addition to the Charger, there were only three other cars on view. Miami’s criminal fraternity / jet set drove either a Red Ferrari, a yellow Lambo or a some sort of Bentley. All three appeared in multiple episodes.
OK, the most recent episode. How many cars did they blow up? Four or so in the parking garage, two on the bridge. The ones in the parking garage - he had to have just blown up other people’s cars - he didn’t have time to drive them all in there.
