One of the best aspects of this job is that, occasionally, you stumble across a pleasant surprise. You pop a show into the DVD player, not expecting much, and it turns out to be thoroughly engaging in a totally unexpected way. That's the case with the relatively unheralded a spy thriller that debuts at 10 tonight on USA.
The series is not great television by any means, but it has a kind of breezy charm and sly wit that make it one of this summer's better new shows. The key to its success is the presence of Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, a spy who, without any warning, gets dropped by the CIA. (In spook world, you get a "burn notice" instead of a layoff notice.
) Donovan has spent most of his career playing "recurring" characters on such series as "Crossing Jordan," but two years ago, he flashed an ability to hold center stage with a droll performance in the short-lived American version of "Touching Evil." Donovan brings the same charm and humor to "Burn Notice" as his character builds a new, non-spy life while still trying to figure out why he was "burned" by his agency handlers. It helps that he gets some very sharp dialogue to work with and has the support of a fine ensemble that includes Gabrielle Anwar ("Scent of a Woman") as a former Irish Republican Army operative, cult fave Bruce Campbell ("The Evil Dead") as an ex-Army intelligence operative who now deals mostly in women and booze, and Sharon Gless ("Cagney Lacey") as his nagging, neurotic mother.
There are some flaws in "Burn Notice." Donovan's voice-overs are smart but overused. There are a few too many flashy jump cuts, which tend to get in the way of the storytelling.
But Donovan is so good as this spy who can't come in from the cold that he manages to cover for most of the shortcomings, and that makes "Burn Notice" something you definitely ought to sample. It's hard to say precisely when "Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip" went off the tracks. The first episode suggested that NBC was right about the series and it was going to be the Next Great Thing on TV.
Created and written by Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing," "Sports Night"), it had the intelligent, zippy dialogue that Sorkin has become known for over the years. Like "The West Wing," it took on issues and featured a cast - Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford, Sarah Paulson - that simply sparkled. But it turned out that "Studio 60" had one fundamental problem: It was supposed to be about life behind the scenes at a late-night comedy show, and it never captured the humor of that milieu.
The show-within-a-show was rarely funny (Sorkin is a great writer but punch-line comedy isn't his forte), and the series started to unravel a few episodes into its run. The past few weeks, NBC has been burning off the last few episodes, and the series will come to an end tonight (at 10, Chs. It's just as well.
The recent episodes were a sad reminder that even top TV talent sometimes can make something few viewers want to watch. One of the best aspects of this job is that, occasionally, you stumble across a pleasant surprise.
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