Burn Notice

Burn Notice is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, and (beginning in season four) Coby Bell. The premise of the show focuses on Michael Westen (Donovan), a former spy who was fired and cut off from the legitimate world by the agency he used to work for. Trapped in Miami with few resources, Westen takes jobs as an unlicensed private investigator while unraveling the mystery of who burned him and why. The series received generally positive reviews from critics for the show's pace, humor, dialogue, and combination of espionage and crime drama presented in an irreverent tone. In 2010, the series was the #2 cable scripted series by viewership with 6.7 million viewers, behind Royal Pains. In addition to the television episodes, the show has a prequel movie and tie-in novels. Plot The title of the series refers to the burn notices issued by intelligence agencies to discredit or announce the dismissal of agents or sources who are considered to have become unreliable. When spies are burned, their connection to an espionage organization is terminated, leaving them without access to cash or influence. According to the narration during the opening credits, the burned spy has no prior work history, no money, no support network – in essence, no identity. The television series uses second-person narrative and frequent voice-overs providing exposition from the viewpoint of covert operations agent Michael Westen, played by Donovan. The voice-over commentary is in the form of tips for fledgling agents as if for a training or orientation film.