Adventures In Writing

New Spy/Adventure Series Set To Debut Thursday 9PM Central Time On USA Network!

Launching this Thursday night, June 28, at 9:00 PM Central Time on the USA network, Burn Notice becomes a contender for the top action adventure summer replacement series.

Jeffrey Donovan stars as Michael Westen, a former agent of the Central Intelligence Agency who has been issued a “burn notice”. In spy vernacular, a burn notice is a statement of disavowal by one agency that no longer trusts an agent. That burn notice doesn’t just affect the agency that individual works for, but also goes out to the intelligence community internationally. An agent who chooses to disregard the burn notice is putting his or her life on the line just by walking outside to get the paper.

No spy agency likes agents they can’t trust. Michael Westen is going to have a problem just remaining among the living and breathing. To make matters worse, the United States government has erased his identification and locked him off the grid as well as freezing all his assets and leaving him penniless.

Cut loose, Michael escapes and returns to his hometown in Miami. The city is a good base for him to work from and provides plenty of plot points and possibilities.

Michael wants to know why he got disavowed and who brought the order into play. In order to do that, though, he needs money. Lots of money. And, since he has no identification, he can’t make that money through legitimate jobs. He has to take work off the books and as dangerous as it comes to rake in the kind of cash he needs to connect with. Even more, he can’t be really picky about the work he’s taking on.

Fortunately, danger has been Westen’s business for some time. He’s trained in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, tactical analysis, and he’s a decent cook. Oh, and he’s totally cool under pressure.

Westen is aided and abetted by three friends linked to his previous business. Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) covers his back while he’s out in the streets. Madeline Westen (Sharon Gless) stars as his mother. And Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) serves as – well, comic relief.

As yet, the series only appears to have five episodes lined up. It’s not a strong showing, but given that some of the recent new fall shows and spring replacement shows haven’t even lasted that long, Burn Notice will have a chance to build up an audience. Since the USA network has delivered a hit like Monk and a fan-favorite newbie like Psych, there’s a good chance the series will have another shot at a later date for more episodes. (And I just received notice from the publicity department for the series that it is going to be a twelve-episode run! Really looking forward to this one tonight.)

The series was created by Matt Nix, who is producing for the first time on this series. Jeffrey Donovan previously starred in Touching Evil.