Every television season is a crap shoot when it comes to quality and originality. And honestly I can give up the originality if the quality is up to par. Take “Burn Notice”, which is enjoying a third season on the USA Network is just such an animal. It’s not necessarily original… you have a character whose reputation is besmirched and is trying to find out who threw him under the bus, all while trying to build a new life outside of his chosen profession. In “Burn Notice”, our protagonist is Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan)… super spy. Well, super spy until he is hit with a ‘burn notice’… the spy’s version of a pink slip. Only much, much worse. Michael has been ‘outed’ as a spy and when that happens you’re cut off from everyone you’ve ever known. So Michael finds himself out on his own trying to find out who ‘burned’ him. Fortunately, he does find aid from his ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) who also happens to be an IRA operative and Sam (Bruce Campbell) his former partner.

The first season of this show was terrifically fun and the second season just took it a step further. I had so much fun watching that season that when the third season was set to be release I was ready to jump on it (so I wouldn’t have to watch it on TV and put up with commercials and all those annoying scroll advertisements). In this third season, Michael has become a ‘person of interest’ to the police and he end up with a Detective (Moon Bloodgood) constantly on his tail, waiting for him to slip up so she can arrest him for something... anything. But Michael himself finds himself tailing a couple of new ‘big bad guys’, in the hopes of taking them down and getting back in good with those who ‘burned’ him.

I’ll have to admit that most of what makes this such a great show is the casting of Bruce Campbell. (If you’re asking yourself who that is right now… shame on you). He is THE B-Movie icon of our time thanks in part to the “Evil Dead” film series. He is a cult figure to thousands of fans worldwide (myself included) for his stature in the B-Movie industry. He is simply, the BEST B-Movie actor in the business, though it’s not necessarily fair to pigeonhole him in that acting arena. He’s actually had roles in numerous TV shows like “Ellen” and “Homicide”, was the lead in the unfortunately short-lived “Adventures in Briscoe County” and “Jack of All Trades”, and has done a bit of directing. He’s even a bestselling author, whose book “If Chins Could Kill” is a great read that I highly recommend. And to top it all off, he’s an all around nice guy. His presence in this series adds to its greatness.

The DVD release of “Burn Notice: Season 3” was a bit of a surprise in that the 2nd season was also released on Blu-ray, while this one did not seem to be. Or perhaps it will be released later down the road. And, the DVD set comes with a lot less in the way of special features than the 2nd season did. There we had commentaries and gag reels, but here there are only two brief featurettes on the special effects and the cast’s stop at the 2009 Comic-Con. I was hoping for more, but in the end I really can’t complain.

“Burn Notice” is well worth checking out. It is a terrific series, with a terrific cast.

Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Moon Bloodgood, Jay Karnes, Ben Shenkman
Extras: Smash, Crash, Boom: Inside the Burn Notice Stunt Unit; 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International
Specification: Widescreen (1.78:1); 5.1 Dolby Digital
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 6/1/2010
MPAA Rating: NR
http://www.foxconnect.com

We'll give Burn Notice: Season 3 a B.