‘BURN NOTICE’: SEASON FINALE

Did you enjoy it? Because it was my brother who edited this awesome episode — spoilers below:

Michael, as we saw in tonight’s episode, was willing to do just about anything to keep Fiona out of prison, including burning his fellow spies. Now, how far will he go to free her? “I’m hoping he’ll go to any lengths to free me, now that I’m locked up,” she says. “I think that’s perhaps one of the more realistic reasons why Fiona sacrificed herself, because she thinks that if anyone can get her out of jail, it will be Michael.

Fiona has, at times, questioned Michael’s need to return to the CIA, and during the finale, Anson suggested that he gave Michael a life by burning him — barring contact with his family, friends and the woman he loves – instead of “ruining” his life as Michael is prone to say. Could he ever just be happy with what he has? “He just seems so bloody driven to serve with the government for some peculiar reason that makes absolutely no sense to Fiona,” Anwar says.

Fans will have to wait until the new season begins to see how much time, if any, Fiona spends behind bars. While the violence-prone, former member of the IRA could probably handle herself in a crowd of criminals, Anwar thinks that Fiona won’t get too comfortable. “I think Fiona had a hard time in a window-washing outfit,” she says. “I don’t know if orange is going to suit her.”

“MARRIED… WITH CHILDREN: THE COMPLETE SERIES” ON SALE FOR $35

Naturally, I purchased this season by season over the last few years. Thankfully, denial has kicked in and I’m presently unable to tell you how much I spent.

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Most of us are familiar with product placement, where movies become quasi-commercials thanks to products like Taco Bell (“Demolition Man”), Mini Coopers (“The Italian Job”), and Reese’s Pieces (“E.T.,” arguably the Grand Poo-Bah of product placement).

And I’m sure the television audience at-large has seen it on various programs through the years, probably with the same semi-amusement they feel toward regular commercials. My earliest memory of TV product placement was “Knight Rider,” and I’m not ashamed to say one of my biggest childhood fantasies was Simonizing K.I.T.T.

I’m not naïve (about this); I realize product placement has been and will always be a part of movies and TV. To be fair, it’s now become downright necessary for the TV sponsors, since digital technology lets you skip over the ad breaks cleanly. It’s a wonderful breakthrough; you’re no longer forced to hear perky people describe cheese as “melty,” a vomit-inducing plight from which even the best VCR couldn’t entirely shield you.

But there’s an annoying new trend, and it’s not the little scene-blocking visual plugs that briefly occupy the lower half of the screen (DON’T get me started.) It isn’t like the “Seinfeld” episode with the Kenny Rogers Roasters plot, and it’s a far cry from James Garner getting behind the wheel of a Firebird and suddenly becoming even cooler.

No, what I’m talking about is how TV characters have recently started to visibly, dramatically, almost droolingly enjoy the products and talk about them on-script. And it’s happening on my shows, which is clearly unacceptable.

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‘BURN NOTICE’ RETURNS — AND YOU SHOULD WATCH

Full disclosure, my brother is an editor on the show but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a terrific piece of escapism with a patriotic protagonist and the awesome Bruce Campbell being, well, awesome:

Just when Michael thought he was out, they pull him back in.

Or rather, he — bad dude Anson, the last member of “Management,” the guys who got Michael burned in the first place — pulls him back in.

Anson (guest star Jere Burns) revealed himself in the summer finale of the show. And in tonight’s episode, “Damned If You Do,” the first of six new episodes that will lead to the Dec. 15 season five finale, Anson continues to blackmail Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) and girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) into carrying out his dastardly deeds.

My pretty wife’s “Burn Notice” addiction is unprecedented and also kind of adorable.

WSJ: ‘J. EDGAR’ SUGGESTS THAT HOOVER WAS GAY

As does the trailer. So no surprise there. ‘Variety’ adds that the film contains a ‘homoerotic wrestling scene.‘ More from the WSJ…

Hearing about the direction the movie was headed from his Hollywood connections, Mr. Baker helped draft a letter to the filmmakers, citing “a monumental distortion.” The Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI also weighed in. “We objected to the inference that he was homosexual but didn’t want the letter to be inferring we were opposed to gay relationships,” says spokesman Craig L. Dotlo.

Mr. Dotlo says former members of Hoover’s security detail say they never saw any indication of a romance between Tolson and Hoover. “Is it possible that they could have had a closet relationship? Sure. Our point is that there’s no empirical evidence.”

You see, it doesn’t matter if there’s evidence or not. In Hollywood, all that matters is that there’s a rumor.

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The FOX-TV comedy-drama series The Good Guys continues in reruns tonight at 9 EDT. It’s well worth it to catch an episode or two—and you might find yourself tuning in regularly or even downloading a few episodes (at a very attractive price).

Set in modern-day Dallas, The Good Guys was created by Matt Nix, the brains behind the USA Network hit Burn Notice. As Nix and his team proved in that show, he is a master of satisfyingly complex plotting. Those who enjoy a whacking good story in which characters are confronted with tough moral choices will enjoy Burn Notice immensely.

But whereas Burn Notice includes elements of comedy but is basically a crime/espionage/adventure drama, The Good Guys is more directly comic in intent. The premise is simple: two Dallas police detectives who have fallen out with their bosses are exiled to handle lame, unchallenging property-crimes cases. The brilliant twist that Nix and his team put on this premise is that each case leads to a much bigger crime, often involving murder, which ultimately results in the two detectives bringing very big criminals to justice.

Thus the show amusingly illustrates the “Broken Windows” crime-fighting theory of James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling—literally, in the case of episode 2, “Bait and Switch.” In fact, the third episode, “Broken Door Theory,” proves that the show’s creators know the theory and recognize it as an inspiration for the show’s concept: the two detectives discuss the notion and what it means: “The idea is you got to stop the small crimes before they become the big ones,” Stark explains, correctly. (more…)

Has “Burn Notice” gotten new writers? They used to have some very insightful comments about guns and crime (e.g., see the episode in season 2 entitled “Lesser Evil”). Yet, now one needs a scorecard to keep tracks of all the errors in some of the shows. Take some of the errors in the most recent show, “Partners in Crime,” posted on Hulu.

At 10:10 into the episode, Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) explains to Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) that an individual who they are checking up on in Florida, “Owns a gun, but it is registered.” The only problem is that Florida, where the show is said to be occurring, and the vast majority of the rest of the US, doesn’t have gun registration. Indeed, only four states require the registration of handguns and one state requires the registration of all long guns (several other states require the registration of so-called “assault weapons.”

At 16:20 Sam Axe says: “The cops are probably matching ballistics right now even without your gun.” Ugh? Now I concede there’s possibility that this comment might have been geared solely to freak out Tim (the suspected thief”, but given the previous conversation about guns being registered between Weston and Axe, I am not so sure. And there are never any knowing winks between the main characters to indicate that they are in on some joke they’re playing on the bad guy. (more…)

The season finale of “Burn Notice,” entitled “Lesser Evil,” involves Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) trying to keep both himself and Madeline Weston, his mom (Sharon Gless), safe from some angry spies. Madeline and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) are surrounded by those bad spies and Madeline makes what to many may seem like an obvious suggestion.

Madeline Weston: Should I call the police?

Sam Axe: No, that would make it way too easy for them. Cops take us to the station — they know where we are and they know that we are unarmed.

The segment reminded me of an even even more politically incorrect show: “The Rifleman.” The episode entitled “The Anvil Chorus” aired on December 17, 1962, and is summarized this way: (more…)

The Academy Awards for 2008 have been handed out, and the “popular kids” have Oscars on their mantles, but the dirty little secret about winning awards is that you’ve gotta campaign for them. Thousands of dollars were spent by the distributors and filmmakers behind Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Milk (Focus Features), The Reader (Weinstein) and other assorted winners and nominees, but not all performances received that sort of big money backing.

I am an unabashed lover of the acting craft. I see virtually every movie, large and small, that passes through the US marketplace, and, taking nothing away from Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger, not all of 2008’s best performances have been recognized. I’m not going to be obvious here. Clint Eastwood was snubbed for Gran Torino, but he received lots of acclaim for the role including being named Best Actor by the National Board of Review. My goal is to highlight 10 performances from last year that have received virtually no acclaim in the US. Many of these roles can be found in hardly-seen, under-appreciated movies that came and went without much notice. Each and every one of these movies deserve a spot in your Netflix (or Blockbuster) cue. (more…)

USA Network’s Burn Notice, one of the best shows on television, returns tonight at 10 EDT. The espionage comedy-drama features Jeffrey Donovan as a fired CIA agent—the “burn notice” of the title refers to his termination, which continually threatens to take on the unpleasant, deadly, espionage connotation of the latter term.

Joining Donovan’s character, Michael Westen, in helping him to get by without an identity (which was taken away by the spy agency upon his termination), avoid being killed by his former employers, and make a meager living helping people menaced by various villains, are ex-girlfriend and superspy Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and buddy Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), a former super-agent, “all-around Cold Warrior” (as the USA Network PR description charmingly puts it), and current FBI informant. (more…)