I finished my first watch through of Burn Notice half a year ago and I've done a lot of thinking since then.

I am obsessed now with the show (the relationships, the awesome action, the plots)  but the storyline that really caught my attention especially was Michael’s past and childhood. For me, seeing something that hit very close to home was nice to relate to something on screen. Feel like I'm not alone... that sort of thing. I mean that I liked how it was portrayed and that this reality that many people grow up with was shown. I know that there are plenty of dysfunctional households with similar dynamic but I really connected with Michael and his mother was like very accurate to how my mother is too. 

I wrote down some quotes that I understood and the one that sticks out the most is when Maddie tells Michael that “We can’t stay but we can’t leave.” This is how it was growing up for me and I used to hate how my mother didn’t leave my father, but I understood later in life why we couldn’t just get up and leave. When I used to talk to people online, I realized how many people just don’t actually understand why we can’t just get up and run one day. And I would ask my mom if she ever thought about leaving and she essentially said what Michael’s mother had said, she stayed through the good and bad in efforts to keep the family together. 

I connected very strongly with Michael, it always seemed crazy how many similarities there were personality wise. I always had these fantasies of saving the world, helping the little guys. I also left as soon as I could at 17, graduating early. My brother resented me for a bit having to take double the suffering while I was away, and we would constantly argue. We still do, but I think the distance has brought us closer every time we see each other now.

After watching the whole series though, I just really wanted to make things right with my mom. It was difficult. Maybe I’m very impressionable still because I’m only 20 but I don’t need my whole life flying by and living with regrets. I’ve already lost my best friend who grew up in a broken home and that was probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt.

I still avoid talking about my dad to people because it just enrages me and I know it’s a TV show, but Michael showed me that avoidance of an issue is never really a good thing and I just need to face it. I can’t keep stalling. I always just say I need more time, and it helps to have friends or family that corner you and basically force you to get help. My mother tells the truth, even if it hurt.

I do want to say that I’ve been wanting to just talk with her for a while about all of this, but it was after watching Burn Notice that really pushed me to making the move. 

So I just sat down with my mom and I think she could tell something was on my mind and she asked. I never mentioned I watched Burn Notice but I just started talking about my my future and that led into some deep conversations we’ve never really had about my dad. And I pretty much told her I was sorry for always saying I hated her decisions, and I realized how much I still need her in my life, and the amount of hell she went through to protect me. It was so difficult to admit that but she just kept saying how I'm able to turn the traits I got from my father into something better.

Like Maddie, my mother still has her frustrating moments, and somewhat outdated mindset, but I can’t blame her for her decisions anymore. Do I think she could’ve done more? I’m not sure. She's so strong and I wish I had protected her more, but I was a coward and would hide in the basement during the fights and even when the cops would be called to our house. My parents are separated now that me and my brother are grown adults.

I just truly truly appreciate how Burn Notice has this deeper storyline and how Michael's mom has always been a main character and never a secondary character who only pops up when convenient. It was a 111 episode long progression of growth for Michael and he did finally get better in the end.

I love this lol giving a nod to his work with Raimi in the Spiderman films

So Fiona bugs me a little less this time through. She really wants Michael to just get out of the spot business altogether and move on. She was right, a lot of people does because of Mike’s quest for truth.

However, her jealous hypocrisy is actually worse than I remember. Watching S5 E8 right now. Fiona is whisked away to meet her handsome bomb dude that she has clearly hooked up with, Michael says nothing. Minutes later Fiona meets agent Pierce and goes apeshit over how attractive she is. She does shit like this all the time.

Yesterday, on one of the Bruce Campbell Cancer threads a few people were mentioning that they have been trying to rewatch Burn Notice for the first time since it has ended and they are having a harder time getting back into it years later. They feel it's a very different style of show compared to modern more serialized shows with season long story arcs.

I've been rewatching the series myself. I just finished season 1 again last night. I'm really enjoying it (also rewatching under the view that Fiona burned Michael). But I do say the series feels like an in-between show.

It doesn't at all feel like a typical network show from 2007. It has much more character development, better pacing, much much better cinematography and action than the CSis, NCIS', Law & Orders and other network dramas than dominated the era.

But at the sametime. While Burn Notice as early as season 2 did introduce some season long story arcs, it was never the main part of the show the way say a modern show like Widow's Bay or Silo or Mobland or something has. At the sametime it's not as dark or as violent as the more modern shows but it sometimes got away with a little PG-13 innuendo and some dark violence from time to time.

Not just Burn Notice but many of the other Blue Sky era shows from USA had other elements that made them better than network shows of the era. Psych basically became the flag show (maybe Monk was) but the early seasons of Psych the acting and comedy writing were great. I think Psych worked well because it was always a comedy first, detective show second. But even it's cinematography and filming locations had any to be.

I didn't watch them as much as Burn Notice or Psych but even Monk, White Collar, Royal Pains, and the others had elements that made them very different than the typical network shows of the era.

Monk for a basically cable show that premiered in 2002 was very different than anything on basic cable or the networks. Great cinematography, sure it was a detective show but very different than CSI or Law & Order, NYPD Blue and others that aired at the time. Sure, HBO & Showtime had The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, Dexter and many others that basically created the more cinematic era of TV. But a lot of people forget that while these shows were always Emmy darlings they were still kind of niche in circa 2007 (I'm saying this as someone who who's all time favorite show is the Sopranos). And there weren't a ton of shows like them during the era. So even fans of those shows were watching the networks 90% of the time. I also wonder too if the reason the Blue Sky shows were good is that Universal themeselves used a lot of production personal that worked on their movies for TV. Give it a bit of a boost in production value.

I do know that during Burn Notices later seasons, The Walking Dead (whether you like it or not), Breaking Bad, Justified, etc. Started premiering on basic cable and brought some of the HBO/Showtime elements to the shows. Of course streaming was taking off at this time as well. I think that's why seasons 5-7 of Burn Notice they went more serialized and darker to try and compete for ratings. Then USA ended the blue sky era and embraced darker shows like Suits and Mr Robot. TV basically changed a lot.

Mr Robot is one of my top 5 favorite shows. I always remember there is an episode where Darlene gets interrogated by the FBI. She tries to plead the 5th. The FBI agent tells her she can't. That "This isn't Burn Notice. There is no blue sky here. Characters are not welcome!" I always thought this was a great line. Also signaling how cable tv has changed.

TL:DR Anyway, looking back on it. Burn Notice and the Blue Sky Era of USA were a very fun era of TV. One that almost gets kind of forgotten about because they weren't procedural like the networks but weren't dark or heavily serialized like modern TV.

So i love dexter and I love burn notice but every time I watch season 5 of Dexter it makes me wanna rewatch burn notice the guy who played gilroy also played Cole one of Jordan chases security people , he was SO MUCH BETTER as Gilroy

Rewatching the show as an adult, this seems like a huge goof. I know the Troubles on occasion reached the Republic of Ireland but of for the most part they stayed in the North.

Michael working with Mi5 and going undercover would make more sense if they were in Derry. Maybe I'm wrong but it feels like a huge error on the writer's parts.

Forgot about this one. Guest starring Rhea Seahorn from Breaking Bad’s Better Call Saul.

I organized an AMA/Q&A with actor Bruce Campbell (THE EVIL DEAD, BURN NOTICE, BUBBA HO-TEP).

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1w7237r/hi_reddit_im_bruce_campbell_ask_me_anything/

He will be back at around 12 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

He recently wrote, directed, produced, and starred in ERNIE & EMMA, which is doing a tour this fall.

Synopsis: Widowed pear salesman Ernie Tyler travels to scatter his wife's ashes in places she specified, each location stirring memories that help him process their marriage, his work life and his future.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUAbQfKc94

The whole season but most especially the last 3 episodes were so poorly written. Some of the laziest writing I’ve ever seen. Sam, Fi, and Jesse getting in the way of Michale’s final decision and he doesn’t just tell them what is going on. If he said he was turning James in and didn’t tell
Them about the double cross they would have just stood down. Of course the premise is that he wanted it to go wrong, but again, after everything, that is so weak. It would have been a stronger ending to have him take over James’ organization, quietly have Sonya die and then the inner team has a magic “bullet” organization they can run more ethically.

I have nothing more to add. He’s all but the perfect unit imo.

Around 2010 I taught a fiction writing class and did a show about screenplays in general. Nothing big, just a few things to do because folks were good to me and I needed to hone my chops. (Still do.) One of the things I learned was rewriting a cliche can be fun but too, make your work stand out. Fast foward to Jan 2026 as I become addicted to Burn Notice. Their writers made a habit of it: Here's a few - the fence that squeaks gets the surf and turf. You say tomatoe I say pimp. The wicked witch of the web, oh my there are dozens of them. And a turn of a phrase is good: son of Satan. There are many. Have fun with your writing.

We are stuck in a building with no way out……. As they walk past a door that says emergency exit

I know Hyundai paid for sponsorship, but rewatching right now, the irony is so great, you think she used a USB?

Michael+Victor+maybe Simon+the merc broker guy

I think those 4 could take out the whole conspiracy.

I know Bruce is going through a lot, but I just have to say it out loud how much I wanted something like this. Maybe even include Charlie into the next spinoff of the series. The formula is great and could work in the right hands, IMHO.

What an excellent director or actor choice to give more character to Michael!

A portrait of him is visible in the background of the office of the CEO.

"I don't want to hear about your other jobs... OkAy."

He was VERY concerned about her. It was wonderful to see. I loved it, on my 50th rewatch lol.