49 Fun Facts About Burn Notice

On which cable channel did Burn Notice originally air from 2007 to 2013?

USA. The channel ran it for seven seasons and 111 episodes, and Ion bought the reruns two months before the finale aired.

Who created Burn Notice?

Matt Nix. He also supplies the unseen voice in the opening credits that tells Michael there is a burn notice on him and that he is blacklisted.

In Burn Notice, which classic muscle car does Michael drive, a 1973 model that belonged to his late father?

Dodge Charger. His mother hands it over saying his father wanted him to have something to remember him by, and Michael ends that episode at the grave with a gruff thank-you for the car.

In Burn Notice's opening credits, Fiona asks Michael whether they should do what?

Shoot them. The narration bills her as a trigger-happy ex-girlfriend, a label trimmed to plain girlfriend from season six on.

In Burn Notice, in which country is Michael in the middle of an operation when he is burned?

Nigeria. He is paying off a warlord to leave an oil field alone when the call comes, so the deal collapses and he is beaten before waking up in his hometown.

In the Burn Notice pilot, Michael's voice-over says guns make you stupid, so fight your wars with what?

Duct tape. "Duct tape makes you smart," he adds, and his knack for building gadgets from hardware-store odds and ends earned the show comparisons with MacGyver.

Who plays Fiona Glenanne, Michael's ex-girlfriend, in Burn Notice?

Gabrielle Anwar. Fifteen years earlier she had danced the tango with Al Pacino's blind colonel in Scent of a Woman.

In Burn Notice, which organization was Fiona formerly a member of?

The IRA. The show's creator called her an incredibly chaotic person who thrives on disorder, which is both why Michael is drawn to her and why the two broke up.

What did Fiona lose between the Burn Notice pilot and the second episode in order to blend in?

Her accent. From the second episode she speaks as an American and changes how she dresses, the show's way of having her put distance between herself and her past.

Who plays Sam Axe, Michael's best friend, in Burn Notice?

Bruce Campbell. Best known as Ash in the Evil Dead films, he proved popular enough here to get a 2011 prequel movie about the mission that ended his character's military career.

In Burn Notice, in which branch of the military did Sam Axe serve before retiring?

Navy SEALs. He retired as a commander, and when the show begins the FBI is forcing him to inform on Michael, who knows it and uses him to feed the Bureau false leads.

In Burn Notice, what alias does Sam Axe use most often on jobs?

Chuck Finley. Sam borrows the name of a real California Angels pitcher he liked to bet on, and the prequel movie shows the alias being born during a radio call for help.

In Burn Notice, how does the perpetually broke Sam usually get by in Miami?

Schmoozing rich older women. His string of sugar mommas keeps him in food, lodging and nice cars, and whenever one throws him out he ends up sleeping at Michael's place.

In Burn Notice, what service does Michael's recurring contact Barry provide for the team?

Laundering money. "Bad Check Barry" also doctors financial records when Michael needs to frame an enemy, and he has been known to go into hiding and stop taking Michael's calls when a job turns dangerous.

Which Burn Notice character, played by Coby Bell, joins the team in season four after Michael accidentally burns him?

Jesse Porter. A counterintelligence expert, he comes to Michael for help finding whoever burned him, and briefly plans to kill him on learning the truth before the two make peace.

In Burn Notice, what is the name of Michael's younger brother, killed by a sniper in season six?

Nate. He has just helped the team capture the man blackmailing them when a single shot from an unseen sniper kills both the prisoner and him.

Which West Wing actor played Phillip Cowan, the man who wrote Michael's burn notice, in season one of Burn Notice?

Richard Schiff. After a season-long hunt Michael finally confronts Cowan, who is shot dead by an assassin before he can explain who ordered the burn.

Which Battlestar Galactica actress played Carla, Michael's handler in season two of Burn Notice?

Tricia Helfer. Carla keeps Michael in line by threatening his family, until Fiona shoots her in the season finale as she prepares to blow up a boat with him aboard.

Which Frasier actor appeared in Burn Notice as the shadowy leader known only as 'Management'?

John Mahoney. His nameless character heads the syndicate that engineered Michael's burn notice in order to recruit him, and that had been quietly shielding him from the police ever since.

In Burn Notice, Michael's spartan loft sits directly above what kind of business?

A nightclub. He earns the place in the pilot by running a drug dealer off the premises for the Russian landlord who owns the club, and lives there without air conditioning.

Which Burn Notice villain, played by Garret Dillahunt, committed the crimes Michael was framed for?

Simon Escher. Sprung from a prison transport at the end of season three, he turns out to be furious that Michael got the credit for his work.

In season four of Burn Notice, what object hides the coded list of the people who burned Michael?

A Bible. The man whose crimes were pinned on Michael had encoded the names in his family's copy, and it is snatched from the wreck of a car crash before Michael can use it.

Which Terminator 2 actor played telecommunications magnate John Barrett in season four of Burn Notice?

Robert Patrick. Barrett arrives with a small army to bargain for the coded list, and dies when the car he and Michael flee in crashes, leaving the prize to a third party.

Who plays Anson Fullerton, the Burn Notice villain who co-founded The Organization and blackmails Fiona?

Jere Burns. Anson tricks Fiona into taking the blame for a deadly bombing, then uses the threat of her arrest to make Michael work for him until she turns herself in.

Which Scrubs actor plays Tom Card, the CIA agent who trained Michael, in season six of Burn Notice?

John C. McGinley. Card turns out to be behind the sniper shot that killed Michael's brother, and Michael kills him for it, which puts the whole team on the run from the CIA.

In Burn Notice's season-six finale, Michael forces a confession from CIA hunter Olivia Riley aboard what?

A boat under Coast Guard fire. Riley had teamed up with a drug cartel to bring Michael down, so he calls the Coast Guard on them both and she confesses only once its guns open up.

Burn Notice's final season opens with Michael undercover where?

Dominican Republic. Posing as an alcoholic ex-spy, he spends nine months drinking and brawling there to catch the eye of an old colleague suspected of running a terrorist network.

In the Burn Notice finale, Michael and Fiona appear to be raising young Charlie where?

A small town in Ireland is where the last scene appears to be set, though the finale never names the place; the pair have faked their deaths, so the CIA honors Michael with a posthumous star on its Memorial Wall.

Who sacrifices herself in the Burn Notice finale to protect young Charlie from James's men?

Madeline. With gunmen closing in and an explosive that has no remote detonator, Michael's mother tells him by phone that she is proud of the man he is, then sets it off herself.

The 2011 Burn Notice prequel movie follows Sam Axe on a final military mission to which country?

Colombia. Sam is sent there as punishment for an affair with a superior's wife, ends up defending a band of farmers, and trades his silence about the fiasco for an honorable discharge.

Who directed the 2011 Burn Notice prequel movie about Sam Axe?

Jeffrey Donovan. The show's leading man had directed just one episode before, and he slipped into the movie himself for a cameo as Michael, advising Sam in a bowling alley.

In which Miami neighborhood did Burn Notice build its permanent set, inside a former convention center?

Coconut Grove. A city commissioner who wanted the building razed for a park proposed that the show blow it up in its final episode, but the producers chose to pay higher rent instead.

What honor did the Burn Notice pilot script win in 2008?

An Edgar Allan Poe Award. The Edgars are the Mystery Writers of America's prizes, and the show's creator, who wrote the winning script, is also the voice in it that tells Michael he is burned.

Which 1970s box-office star guest-starred in Burn Notice's fourth season as an aging ex-spy hunted by Russians?

Burt Reynolds. His character made enemies on both sides of the Cold War, and Michael has to strong-arm a congressman to get the old man back under official protection.

In Burn Notice, what is the refrigerator in Michael's bare-bones loft famously stocked with?

Yogurt and beer. His yogurt habit is so well known that a spy broker trying to recruit him in season three sends a gift basket of the stuff.

Which Animal House alumnus plays 'Dead' Larry Sizemore, Michael's disillusioned old colleague, in Burn Notice?

Tim Matheson. Larry earned the nickname by strolling into an oil refinery moments before it blew up in front of fifteen witnesses, then resurfacing as a contract killer.

Burn Notice's narration lists no cash, no credit and no what?

Job history. Stuck in whatever city he was dumped in, the narration goes on, a burned spy does whatever work comes his way, which is how Michael ends up an unlicensed private eye.

Michael Westen's karate is no defense against what?

His mother's tears. In the pilot he boasts of thirty years of karate, combat on five continents and a rating with every weapon that fires a bullet or holds an edge, all useless against Mom crying into his shirt.

Which Burn Notice character, played by Adrian Pasdar, sacrifices himself in season seven to help Michael rescue a prisoner?

Randall Burke. Michael's old colleague sets off a bomb to cover the escape, having told him only that the prisoner was the key to everything.

In Burn Notice's final season, whom does Michael kill to protect Fiona, prompting James's revenge?

Sonya. With Sonya and Fiona each urging him to get rid of the other, Michael finally picks a side and shoots her in the back.

Which Stargate SG-1 actor played Victor, the Burn Notice wrangler who rigged the hero's loft with explosives?

Michael Shanks. Victor turns from enemy to ally once Michael learns that the handler they share had Victor's wife and young son killed in order to recruit him.

How does Michael walk out on Management at the end of Burn Notice's second season?

He jumps from a helicopter. Shown the open door above the ocean and warned what will rain down once the syndicate stops watching out for him, he says he will take his chances and swims home.

Which actress from the Terminator franchise played Detective Michelle Paxson, the cop hunting Michael in season three of Burn Notice?

Moon Bloodgood. Paxson's sudden interest is no accident: the syndicate Michael has just walked out on has stopped shielding him from the police.

Which CIA agent becomes Michael's contact in season five of Burn Notice after investigating him for his partner's murder?

Dani Pearce. She arrests Michael for the killing, then lets him face the real assassin wearing a hidden microphone and hears the confession that clears him.

Which Melrose Place actor played Max, Michael's CIA partner in season five of Burn Notice?

Grant Show. Max is shot dead a few episodes into the season by an unseen gunman, and the killing is staged so that the evidence points straight at Michael.

In season six of Burn Notice, who does Michael discover fired the sniper shot that killed Anson?

Tyler Gray. Captured in Panama, he reveals that the mission to catch him is a sham: Michael's own CIA mentor hired him, and now means to wipe out the whole team.

Which Cagney & Lacey star earned Burn Notice's first acting Emmy nomination as Michael's mother?

Sharon Gless. Her character now and then brings him a friend in trouble, and the opening credits catch her mid-plea, telling him that someone needs his help.

In the Burn Notice prequel The Fall of Sam Axe, which actor plays the corrupt Comandante Veracruz?

Pedro Pascal. Three years before Game of Thrones made his name, he played an officer who plans to attack a clinic himself and blame rebels in order to win American aid.

Which federal agent hounds Michael through Burn Notice's first season until Michael frames him for taking bribes?

Jason Bly. The faked file also forces him to hand over Michael's classified dossier, yet the two end up uneasy allies, and Bly dies in season six trying to help him.