Jun 08 2010
Burn Notice Needs to Mix Things Up a Bit
Ever since Lost wrapped, I’ve been looking for a new show to review on a weekly basis. Really, the only things on this summer are True Blood, the World Cup and Burn Notice, and Maddy’s got the first one, we don’t do sports, and Burn Notice? Well, it’s not really a show you can review. Why?
I’ve long avoided procedural shows because I think they’re predictable and pretty often boring as shit. For those of you who don’t know the lingo, a procedural is a show that follows a set pattern every week, and each episode is a self-contained little box, with only a hint of a plot that stretches past one episode. Prime examples would be every CSI show and every Law and Order show, where someone commits a crime, a few suspects are rounded up, and it turns out to be one of them. Rinse. Repeat.
These shows are hugely popular, and last forever because they’re so easy to write, but the format is just so damn boring to me. It extends to other shows as well, and it’s the reason I couldn’t get into a show like The X-Files, where the entire first season was “something crazy happens, Mulder thinks it’s aliens, everyone else thinks there’s rational explanation, Mulder is right.”
But Burn Notice was the first show organized like this that I could actually tolerate watching regularly, just because each little escapade Michael got into every week, as a burned spy turned good Samaritan, was so much fun to watch.
However, here we are at the start of the fourth season, and it’s starting to wear a little thin. Again, Michael is now set off on a path to pursue some mysterious figure who has done something bad. He will do this in five minute snippets every week until the finale where there will be a lot of explosions. The rest of the time, he will take on cases for poor souls like he’s doing missions in some kind of bizarro world Grand Theft Auto. He will likely adopt a fake accent, trick some people, and save the day without so much as hurting a fly.
It’s not a bad format, but it’s nothing new either, and I really just wish that Burn Notice would kick into gear and try to spice things up a bit. Leaving Miami would be a great start, and possibly pitting Fiona or Sam against Michael could mix things up even further. I don’t know exactly what the show should do, but it just seems too comfortable with its format, and unwilling to move from its entrenched ways.
Burn Notice is a pretty good show, but it could be a great one if it exerted a little more effort. It just seems like the cast and writers are breezing through it at this point, and if things are just going to be more of exactly the same thing three years later, it’s hard to justify that it’s really worth watching. Then again, what choice do I have during this desert that is summer TV?
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Mad Men season 4 premieres July 27. It’s late, but it’s better than any other show on TV so we’ll give it a pass
Paul,do you watch Top Gear? I just discovered it earlier this year and it’s fantastic. I’m not a “gearhead” at all. In fact, when it comes to cars, I’m more of a “dumbass” than anything else. But you don’t have to know or even like cars to enjoy this show. Zany hosts, cool machines, crazy adventures, dangerous stunts, cool guests and really good production quality all make it more than palatable. The best part is, it’s been around forever, so even during it’s “off-season” there’s plenty of backlog to catch up on.
During the summer I prefer to watch shows I’ve never seen before on DVD. Last summer I watched 24 and Dexter. This summer my goal is Six Feet Under and Buffy. I’m about halfway done with season 2 of six feet under so we’ll see. Psych is the only summer show I really like but even that doesn’t start until August.
Rescue Me, Louie, and the aforementioned Mad Men. I think The Good Guys is playing all summer too – worth it just for the ‘stache.
I agree with Sam.
This summer I will be watching BSG, which I’ve never seen.
I recommend Alias since you were such a big LOST fan.
I agree with what you’ve said about procedural television, and Burn Notice is a great example of a good show with that format.
I missed the beginning of season 3, every episode since has been recorded to the dvr, but i have yet to watch any of them. I’m not saying it’s a bad show, i enjoy it’s charm, but as you said it is predictable.
Since everyone else is throwing suggestions at you, i wouldn’t mind seeing “Sons of Anarchy” reviewed here when it returns in the fall. That doesn’t do much for what your going to do over the summer, but it’s a good show with season long story lines.
I suggest reviewing series on DVD for the summer, maybe put the season 1 disc one disc for a lot of shows in your netflix queue and then whatever netflix sends that’s the show you review. Could alternately put in the most recent season disc but that might have more of a wait and would still leave you behind the more recent airings. Another idea is to find some classic TV show on Hulu or Youtube and do a piece on one of them once a week, kinda like summer reruns you’re reviewing things maybe we’ve all seen before.
Then fall I offer my suggestion for a review of the series “Chuck”. My friend got me into it a few months ago and I breezed through the first two seasons on DVD then the at-the-time current on DVR just in time for the season 3 finale. The show does follow a formula (Chuck thinks life is getting back to normal / Chuck “flashes” on someone/something / They go and capture the bad guy / Chuck or one of his friends does something to make the situation worse / The day is saved for the good guys) however each episode does reveal more information pertaining to the main story arc plus they actually ANSWER questions! Very nice change from Lost and the non-answer’s though still enough mystery to keep you engaged.
I don’t know why, but I read the entire fifth paragraph in Michael Weston’s voice.
But I too like to watch shows I haven’t watched before. I started Weeds, but that got a bit stale. Life is on Hulu, and that has my attention, but I really, really enjoy Lie to Me, which is back on.
The Good Guys wasn’t terrible last night, either.
“Breaking Bad” is worth it very much ! and cheer up Paul, “Dexter” will be back soon.
First off, true. Burn notice does have a given format, but what show doesnt? LOST ( another one of my favorites) One question is answered and 3 more are presented, mostly by people appearing on an island that cant be navigated to. Family Guy, Peter gets into trouble and uses the resolve of his family to get through it by interchangible jokes. Jeopardy, a few people play, one wins…. It’s called television. What your looking for is a movie. Second, Fiona and Sam were pitted against Michael in season 3. Jeffery Donnovan usually has to hurt someone in every episode, but violence isnt really selling as far as intriuge on USA. I agree though, I’m getting tired of every finale ending in the conquering of one mysterious bad guy, only to be replaced by another that seemed to be his controller… but thats how television works. UK Office had a 6 episode arc. Fine and dandy. US Office is starting ts 7th season and has had the same bumbling boss getting his office into trouble while everyone switches love lives; but it has a nationwide fan base that loves predictible storyline with a few hanging questions that beg to be answered in the finale. If every secret is given away and every question is answered then it ceases to be watchable. Adding more violence and less explosions to appease one viewer would change the show entirely. People like to see the hero win and the villan fail. Need a mixed up and bloody Burn Notice? Try any Bond movie or the first few episodes of Human Target before it got cancelled for being an over the top Burn Notice.
The solution to your problems: Breaking bad
Anyone who have seen it would agree.
They do fine on burn notice…. have been locked in since beginning… cast is great.
Leverage
Breaking Bad! Best show on TV.
[...] I love Burn Notice, but as I’ve noted recently, the show is a bit formulaic at this point, and I think it needs to shake things up in order to [...]
You couldn’t get into The X-Files? Why the hell would would we care about anything you have to say about TV?