New Burn Notice tonight!
Jul. 10th, 2008 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynI know I keep pimping this show, and I know that no one's listening, but I keep trying: Burn Notice season 2 starts tonight at 10 on USA. They're also marathoning some episodes today as I write this.
If you are interested but want to catch up, the first season just came out on DVD. I got my set and reviewed them, and they are in pretty good shape. I found their treatment of commentary tracks very interesting -- each episode has a "Get Burned" section, where specific scenes or clips have a commentary from stars Jeffrey Donovan, Sharon Glass, Gabrielle Anwar, and Bruce Campbell, as well as creator Matt Nix. At first I was annoyed -- I didn't understand why they didn't do commentaries on the whole episodes, and just pick one or two. But after I saw that each episode had a few clips at least, to quite a few, it grew on me. This way we get Bruce Campbell being hilarious in each episode, as opposed to just a few choice ones. The pilot and the finale have the most commentaries included.
The package is quite low-rent, as you'd expect from USA. No special art, and the one posed shot they use over and over. One of the nice things though is that they beefed up the sound a bit, which I appreciate, especially after watching so many episodes of shows where there appears to be no sound engineers at all, like Dr. Who and Torchwood, because everyone's shouting over hideously overaggressive music all the time. The series has been really good with music both incidental and soundtrack, and they did a good job on mixing this. The menus all have a Play All feature, something I really love and which far too few TV discs offer (still! Why can't they get with the program!).
I think the show is best described as Rockford Files + Equalizer + MacGyver x Sneakers. (A lot of people throw Miami Vice in there, but beyond being set in Miami, it's really nothing like that. The best part of Miami though is the look, and how there aren't the same 12 Canadian actors and same 15 Vancouver settings that most USA/Sci-Fi shows use.) It's light and humorous, actiony and spy-stuff packed, with a few nice deadly serious turns. Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe, the ex-Navy SEAL sidekick to Jeffrey Donovan's burned spy Michael Westen, is a total treasure in the show, and Gabrielle Anwar totally won me over even though I thought I hated her. She seems far too tiny to be doing the things she does with weapons until you look close, and you see how incredibly wiry she is, and you get a look at her abs -- that girl is made of rebar. And I adore Sharon Gless as Michael's chainsmoking, hypochondriac mother. It is so good having her on TV again.
And there is definitely a slashiness between Sam and Michael, enough that Bruce Campbell commented on it. I won't say what episode or scene this was from to avoid spoilers, but in one of the commentaries, there was this little exchange (not verbatim):
Campbell: And here's the part where they kiss, but that got cut out. You guys always cut out the good parts.
Nix: ... I actually did write a kiss into that scene. I wondered if anyone would really see it in the script.
Donovan: We read the scripts.
Nix: I knew someone saw it when the next day my assistant called and told me she sprayed a mouthfull of Coke all over her computer...
Seriously, how could a show with Bruce Campbell not be worth someone's time? I loved his wry obervation about the key to Sam's character is being EX Navy SEAL -- Sam is a little chunky and has a sliiiight drinking issue (one of my favorite lines in the show is Michael being horrified by Sam coming over with a bucket of fried chicken. When they leave, Michael says, "And bring your bucket of fat with you," to which Sam replies, "And I'll bring my chicken, too."). And this year, there are some great guest stars lined up, like Tricia Helfer in a recurring role, Michael Shanks in an arc, and Oded Fehr, to mention a few. Here's hoping they can maintain the tone and the cool spy tricks into the new season.
If you are interested but want to catch up, the first season just came out on DVD. I got my set and reviewed them, and they are in pretty good shape. I found their treatment of commentary tracks very interesting -- each episode has a "Get Burned" section, where specific scenes or clips have a commentary from stars Jeffrey Donovan, Sharon Glass, Gabrielle Anwar, and Bruce Campbell, as well as creator Matt Nix. At first I was annoyed -- I didn't understand why they didn't do commentaries on the whole episodes, and just pick one or two. But after I saw that each episode had a few clips at least, to quite a few, it grew on me. This way we get Bruce Campbell being hilarious in each episode, as opposed to just a few choice ones. The pilot and the finale have the most commentaries included.
The package is quite low-rent, as you'd expect from USA. No special art, and the one posed shot they use over and over. One of the nice things though is that they beefed up the sound a bit, which I appreciate, especially after watching so many episodes of shows where there appears to be no sound engineers at all, like Dr. Who and Torchwood, because everyone's shouting over hideously overaggressive music all the time. The series has been really good with music both incidental and soundtrack, and they did a good job on mixing this. The menus all have a Play All feature, something I really love and which far too few TV discs offer (still! Why can't they get with the program!).
I think the show is best described as Rockford Files + Equalizer + MacGyver x Sneakers. (A lot of people throw Miami Vice in there, but beyond being set in Miami, it's really nothing like that. The best part of Miami though is the look, and how there aren't the same 12 Canadian actors and same 15 Vancouver settings that most USA/Sci-Fi shows use.) It's light and humorous, actiony and spy-stuff packed, with a few nice deadly serious turns. Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe, the ex-Navy SEAL sidekick to Jeffrey Donovan's burned spy Michael Westen, is a total treasure in the show, and Gabrielle Anwar totally won me over even though I thought I hated her. She seems far too tiny to be doing the things she does with weapons until you look close, and you see how incredibly wiry she is, and you get a look at her abs -- that girl is made of rebar. And I adore Sharon Gless as Michael's chainsmoking, hypochondriac mother. It is so good having her on TV again.
And there is definitely a slashiness between Sam and Michael, enough that Bruce Campbell commented on it. I won't say what episode or scene this was from to avoid spoilers, but in one of the commentaries, there was this little exchange (not verbatim):
Campbell: And here's the part where they kiss, but that got cut out. You guys always cut out the good parts.
Nix: ... I actually did write a kiss into that scene. I wondered if anyone would really see it in the script.
Donovan: We read the scripts.
Nix: I knew someone saw it when the next day my assistant called and told me she sprayed a mouthfull of Coke all over her computer...
Seriously, how could a show with Bruce Campbell not be worth someone's time? I loved his wry obervation about the key to Sam's character is being EX Navy SEAL -- Sam is a little chunky and has a sliiiight drinking issue (one of my favorite lines in the show is Michael being horrified by Sam coming over with a bucket of fried chicken. When they leave, Michael says, "And bring your bucket of fat with you," to which Sam replies, "And I'll bring my chicken, too."). And this year, there are some great guest stars lined up, like Tricia Helfer in a recurring role, Michael Shanks in an arc, and Oded Fehr, to mention a few. Here's hoping they can maintain the tone and the cool spy tricks into the new season.
