The TV Addict 

By: Amrie Cunninghame [My Take on TV]

I don’t think I’m overstating anything when I say that this summer has given us some of the best TV I’ve seen in a long time. I’m still not caught up on the few weeks I missed due to our trip to San Diego, but I still feel like I’ve seen some quality TV that I’m glad we have in the summer so these shows don’t have to compete with my regular fall viewing. Here are my favorite shows from the summer (if not listed, it’s because I’m just not caught up and I can’t say it’s my favorite if I haven’t seen it…I’m talking to you, THE CLOSER).

My five favorite summer shows this year:

BURN NOTICE – Ever since my visit to the set, I feel connected to this show. I’ve had the chance to spend time with the people that make the show possible, so to me, that makes season 2 even more spectacular than season 1. Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is a great character – he’s sarcastic, which is perfect for me – I sometimes feel like sarcasm should be my middle name. I love Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar, who I can’t say enough good things about) and I think she’s even better this season than last. No one compares to Sam (Bruce Campbell) and, say what you will about Madeline (Sharon Gless), I think she’s a fantastic character. I have enjoyed every episode of Season 2 so far. It’s funny, whip smart, and just an easy way to pass the time. I understand the plight of viewers who think the Carla thing has dragged on a bit too far, but I personally am on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how the mid season “finale” goes (since we’ll get more BURN NOTICE in January this year) and what more we find out about the mysterious Carla (Tricia Helfer).

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By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]

In the fifth of our series of interviews with the cast and creative team of BURN NOTICE, theTVaddict.com proudly presents a Q&A with the Executive Producer Jeff Freilich — who was kind enough to spend time with theTVaddict.com Senior Editor Amrie Cunningham [as well as numerous other media outlets] on a recent visit to the set.

Can you say your name for the tape?
Gabrielle Anwar.

[Everyone laughs]
We have the most remarkable hair and makeup department. Most people don’t recognize me on South Beach. It’s amazing, because in front of camera, I wear a Triple 0 and off camera I’m a 34 waist. The people in Miami just can work magic! So Jeff Freilich.

It is pretty amazing when you walk around this set and see what’s involved and all the people involved. Do you ever just take a moment and say “yeah, I put all this together” and how difficult is it to put all this together?
I only say that when there’s no blame attached. Miami really hasn’t seen a television series of this kind of scope since the days of Miami Vice. The only other show that stayed in Miami before this, between Miami Vice days and now was South Beach, which was a short-lived series. A lot of shows come here to shoot just to get beauty shots. Dexter shot its pilot here. They shot a few more episodes and then they moved to Los Angeles. CSI: Miami shot part of a season here. They come here a couple of times a year to pick up the look of Miami. That’s something that we can’t afford to do. We’re on a different budget than these shows. One of the disadvantages of shooting a show for cable television is that you’re working on budget that’s no more than 60% of the budget of a standard prime time network television show, so you have to be a little bit more creative in the way that you spend your money. We couldn’t afford to shoot in Los Angeles and come to Miami three times a year to get shots of Ocean Drive and the Brickell area. If you’re going to dive into Miami, we had to dive in with both feet. And the problem was that we also had to start shooting last season and this season right at the head of hurricane season. Ideally, if there had been no Writer’s Guild strike, we would have been starting to shoot at the end of January and we would have wrapped in June. We would have had much different weather. We would have had probably more consistent sunshine with lower temperatures which is much more conducive to doing this ambitious a series in only 7 days per episode. People just tend to get slow in the summer. It’s not because the crew isn’t really wonderful. It’s because you die, you kill yourself to get too much work done. Plus we also run the risk of heavy rain and other things which is why most of the series don’t shoot in Miami.

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By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]

In the fourth in our series of interviews with the cast and creative team of BURN NOTICE, theTVaddict.com proudly presents a Q&A with the the ever so cool Jeffrey Donovan — who was kind enough to spend time with theTVaddict.com Senior Editor Amrie Cunningham [as well as numerous other media outlets] on a recent visit to the set.

Panel: [laughs] Uh oh!
Jeffrey Donovan: How’s it going? Have you had a good day today, so far? You got to interview everybody exciting so far…

We’ve been waiting for you!
It’s all downhill from me. All downhill.

Sharon Gless talked you up a lot.
Oh, my mama. My mama. [laughter] Isn’t she amazing?

She said nothing but lovely things about you.
She’s been like a mother to me down here. She is so great. Her and her husband, Barney – you know famous producer – they’re just so great. I wish they were my parents.

She seemed like she’s pretty much adopted you.
Yeah, she has, she has. I’m filing papers next week.

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By: Amrie Cunningham

…Michael Westen had bid Fiona a fond farewell, shared a bro-goodbye with Sam, and was ready to accept the fate that he may have said good-bye to his friends for the last time, as he drove into the back of an 18-wheeler.

The season premiere, airing tonight on USA Network pick up a short time after that. As we find Michael trying to get himself out of the truck. He gets a phone call from a mystery woman (Carla, we come to find out), who lets Michael know that he now works for the people who burned him, whether he likes it or not.

Following a slightly lackluster resolution to last year’s finale, the first two episodes take off – they’re full of action and the fun we’ve come to love from BURN NOTICE. There are some great scenes between Michael and Fiona. Gabrielle Anwar gets to show another side in the premiere that just made her climb higher on my favorites list. I love the Sam and Michael relationship – everyone needs a best friend like that. Michael’s continued exasperation with his mother is classic. Jeffrey Donovan and Sharon Gless share a scene that just kicked my sappy ass, so I’m interested to see where the mother/son relationship heads this year. I am starting a petition right now for more Fiona/Sam scenes. They’re great!

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By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]

In the third in our series of interviews with the cast and creative team of BURN NOTICE, theTVaddict.com proudly presents a Q&A with the radiant Gabrielle Anwar — who was kind enough to spend time with theTVaddict.com Senior Editor Amrie Cunningham [as well as numerous other media outlets] on a recent visit to the set.

Panel: Do you enjoy working in Miami?
Gabrielle: I actually love it. I would much rather be too hot than too cold. I’m perfectly happy melting all day long. Jeffrey has to wear full on suits and ties, poor thing, and Bruce too. Although he gets to wear Hawaiian shirts a lot too. He’s Mr. Tommy Bahama.

How do you handle doing the martial arts and hand to hand combat that Fiona does?
Smoke and mirrors. Jeffrey’s actually incredibly advanced in martial arts. He’s like triple billion black belt or whatever, he’s pretty high up there. Although I don’t know who actually judges that stuff. But I have no idea what I’m doing. It’s basically just choreography. I did dance, so that comes in handy. But as far as hitting the right artery or chopping the right part of the body, I have no idea what I’m doing.

Do you know any martial arts?
No, I don’t.

You look like you do?
Well, thank you, but I can tell. When I’m working and I’m looking at the dailies, I go, ‘Oh, God, I hope they cut around that one.’

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In the second in our series of interviews with the cast and creative team of BURN NOTICE, theTVaddict.com proudly presents a round table discussion, well really rectangular table discussion with Bruce Campbell — who was kind enough to spend time with theTVaddict.com Senior Editor Amrie Cunningham [as well as numerous other media outlets] on a recent visit to the set.

What is, in fact, the latest and the greatest?
Bruce Campbell: You’re, you’re, you’re looking at it right here. Uh, the TV show that sparked a new industry in southern Florida. I mean since we’ve started, things have been going crazy here. We had to kick Owen Wilson out for loitering.

What happened to the productions in Miami, because I was…
Well, it’s coming back. I mean, it’s back with a vengeance, I think. Because, uh, for some reason, this has become a facility now. I mean, it’s an old convention center and they were going to tear it down. And, and uh, the BURN NOTICE guys thought it would be a good facility to just start it from scratch. So that’s what we’ve been doing; building a facility, at the same doing a show.

At one point it seemed like everything was shot in Miami.
Yeah.

And then it just disappeared.
Could be a lot of things are, uh, insurance rules would change what a state, or what insurance companies won’t cover for hurricanes, and producers get a little skittish, you know. So it’s about that, it’s about incentives that the state offers. So, you know, it’s all about where producers can save dough and have a show that looks good.

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Can’t wait a week until the second season premiere of BURN NOTICE? Neither can we!

That’s why theTVaddict.com will be helping to pass the time by posting a new interview from Senior Editor Amrie Cunningham’s recent trip to the set of BURN NOTICE each and every day leading up to July 10th premiere.

Today’s interview: BURN NOTICE star and legendary TV icon Sharon Gless.

Panel: So what’s it like to be a TV icon?
Sharon Gless Oh my goodness! Am I?

Yeah, absolutely!
Well… I’ll tell you, I don’t know if I’m an icon, but I’ve really been… working more than most my age. And I come from gratitude every day – it makes me cry – I come from gratitude every single day. Because I have so many friends, you know, my age, who I was in the industry with, who aren’t working any more. And it feels like a really swell thing that I get to keep working.

Do you fellow cast members look up to you and come to you for career advice?
[Laughs] Um, well, I don’t know if they look up to me, but Jeffrey when we first started just wanted to know, ‘How did you do it?’ Just the stamina that it takes to be, as he is, in every single scene, which Tyne and I were in CAGNEY AND LACEY. It was devised that way on purpose. There was never a scene we weren’t in. But that’s how this show’s been devised. I think this year they’re giving him a little break, because you can’t kill the golden goose. But normally he’s in every single scene. So last year, sort of the only advise he would ask me was, ‘How did you do it?’ I said, ‘You have to get an assistant. You just have to be able to give stuff to other people and just focus on your work.’ He’s so amazing.

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By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]

“He was like really a bad singer, and he was a luna(tic)” – find out who Valerie Schields, Locations Manager from BURN NOTICE, is talking about and why she loves shooting in Miami.

Valerie: Our job is when we get a script, then we take a look at what the locations are supposed to be, then we present options to the director and the production designer. And then they make the final choice. But it’s a really creative job. The most fun part of the job is the scouting because that is, it’s adding, we’re adding, we’re contributing. Even though the final choice is the director’s, we’re contributing to the look of the show. Then it moves onto the business. Once they‘ve picked everything then all the logistics start and we have to sign the contracts and organize the police and the fire department and the parking and the catering and the everything. Actually, the location manager, once the locations are found is the liaison between the community, the real world, as we call it, and the crew. Because the crew actually is a very efficient machine that’s run. Everybody knows their job, but what we need to do is to facilitate the crew to do what they need to do to get their job done and yet interface with the community and make it happen so that everybody’s happy. When we film in private properties or office buildings or restaurants, then also what we do is we have to get the crew to abide by what we promised. So we’re the liaison also for the location and representative of the crew.

I’ve been curious ever since I’ve seen it, the house that Michael and his family squat in. How much does it cost to rent it?
Which house was it?

The one in the finale….Yeah, Nate was squatting and he brought Madeline and Michael into it. He said it was a foreclosure on the show. It looks like it’s on Star Island, well I thought it was, but it might be Palm Island….I think it was episode 10 last year.
I don’t remember. I really don’t remember where it was. It probably was on Star. Was it a mansion?

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By: Amrie Cunningham

“We spend 3 days in a van with a writer for 12 hours a day” and other fun stories about Production Design – an interview with BURN NOTICE production designer Craig Siebels:

My name is Craig Siebels, I’m the Production Designer. Anything I say, I mean we because there’s another person that I work with Mark Harrington.

So, what’s it like to be so tall [Craig has to be 6’6” at least]:
Craig Siebels: [laughs] You come out with the tough question right away.

Have you been with the show since the beginning?
Yes, I’ve known Matt Nix for 9 years and we started talking about this show at least a 1 ½ before there was a pilot. I didn’t design the pilot; I started with the 2nd episode. But I was advising Matt when he was here shooting the pilot.

How did you create the unique look of the show?
It’s not an easy question. When we first talked about the show we wanted the world to teach the audience to look at things differently. When we walk around scouting locations it’s ludicrous that we all think like spies now. Whenever we walk into a restaurant we check out all of the exits and how to get to the roof first. All of the sets, we know at least ten episodes down that we’ll have a place where people can hide. We had a mandate from the network to shoot in Miami. We’re the only show that’s set in Miami that shoots in Miami.

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Amrie Cunningham on the set of BURN NOTICE

It’s only the middle of June and already I’ve got a wicked “What I did on my summer vacation” story to share with you all. A little over a week ago, I had the great pleasure of spending some time on the set of a little show we all know (and should absolutely love). USA was great enough to invite a few members of the online media word (read: bloggerati) to visit Miami and the set of BURN NOTICE!

I arrived on a Thursday afternoon, just a few hours before our scheduled dinner at The Chart House with the mastermind behind the whole show, the absolutely hilarious and incredibly personable Matt Nix. We had a great time at dinner, talking about the show. In the only conversation of the two days that we didn’t get a chance to record (I think we all had our recorders in our bags, but no one wanted to break that ice), Matt told us stories about how the show came to be, about why he ended up in Miami, and what might happen to various characters if he suddenly stops getting along with their portrayer! He offered great insight into the world of BURN NOTICE and why he likes filming in Miami. He wasn’t just putting us on, either. You can tell just by the way he tells a story, that he truly loves his job and couldn’t ask for anything better.

One of my favorite stories of the night was him telling us about shooting last year’s finale, when they blew up a car with a missile and created a giant mushroom cloud in the middle of downtown Miami. He recalled watching the dailies and thinking how cool it was that they had gotten all these extras to drive through Miami as they caused this damage on the bridge. When he realized that they weren’t extras, that it was actually Miami traffic, his thoughts immediately went to the crazy fact that no one stopped. Not a single person on the bridge stopped to check out the mushroom cloud. It’s a hilarious commentary on where our minds are. Mushroom cloud = normal, naturally.

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