Burn Notice
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — Burn Notice (2007–2013) on USA, season 1, episode 1, aired 2007-06-28, 90 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 111 in the Burn Notice guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2007-06-28 (90 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Identity” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. Pilot installs the loft narration: a burned spy taking odd jobs, Jeffrey Donovan's deadpan, Bruce Campbell's Sam Axe, weekly how-to as house style.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Michael Westen, a spy, is "burned" while on assignment in Nigeria. Dumped in his hometown of Miami, with no money or resources to his name, Michael agrees to help a man accused of stealing valuables from his employer's home.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the Burn Notice guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 111 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Burn Notice S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 2007-06-28 and is listed at 90 minutes.
Is Burn Notice just mission-of-the-week?
Standalone jobs are the weekly candy; the serialized wound is who burned Michael. Voiceover tradecraft around a grudge that does not close in one hour.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A burned spy narrates tradecraft from a Miami loft, taking odd jobs while hunting who erased his career. Burn Notice is blue-sky USA action with a grudge underneath — Jeffrey Donovan's deadpan, Bruce Campbell's Sam Axe, and weekly how-to candy around a serialized wound.
USA put a burned spy in a Miami loft and windowed tradecraft as weekly how-to candy. Burn Notice (2007–2013) is Matt Nix's blue-sky action brand: Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, Gabrielle Anwar's Fiona, Bruce Campbell's Sam Axe as a cable favorite, Sharon Gless, later Coby Bell. Odd jobs as the A-plot. A serialized burn mystery in the drawer. Voiceover from the loft like a tutorial that happens to have a grudge. Seven seasons, 111 episodes. Rex can keep the living-room spy with a theme song. This one shipped…
Filed against
- Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen
Jeffrey Donovan’s Michael Westen narrated tradecraft from a Miami loft on Burn Notice — burned spy, odd jobs, a hunt for who erased the career. Blue-sky USA action with a grudge underneath, Bruce Campbell’s Sam Axe, weekly how-to candy…
- Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne
Gabrielle Anwar detonated as Fiona Glenanne on Burn Notice — blue-sky USA action, a burned spy's Miami loft, weekly how-to candy around a serialized wound. Jeffrey Donovan's deadpan, Bruce Campbell's Sam Axe, and Anwar as the ex who made…
- Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe
Bruce Campbell’s Autolycus stole Hercules: The Legendary Journeys like a syndicated comic — 1990s catalog King of Thieves, camp with a chin, then Burn Notice recasting the grin as Sam Axe’s Miami how-to. TV Flash files him as the thief…
- Sharon Gless as Madelaine Westen
Sharon Gless’s Christine Cagney made Cagney & Lacey a once-in-a-generation partnership — two women detectives, badge culture that had to make room, Emmys after a near-cancellation letter campaign — then played Burn Notice’s Miami grudge…
- Coby Bell as Jesse Porter
Coby Bell played Jesse Porter on Burn Notice — a burned spy narrating tradecraft from a Miami loft, odd jobs while hunting who erased his career. Blue-sky USA action with a grudge underneath: Jeffrey Donovan's deadpan, Bruce Campbell's…