Crushworthy - Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen in Burn Notice

Did I mention that I'm in love with Jeffrey Donovan? Or is that Michael Westen?

Or is that Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen on USA Network's Burn Notice? Their summer cable hit series last year that I managed to get caught up with over the writer's strike, and have now fallen in love with!

Well, if you didn't watch, USA Network begins re-running an encore of Season 1 starting tonight, Thursday at 11pm and will re-air them every Thursdays at 11pm until the Season 2 premiere on Thursday July 10th at 10pm.

USA will also re-air every episode 3 more times in the week on:
Thursday nights (Friday Mornings) at 2 am (2:30 am this first week),
Sunday at 10am
Monday at Midnight (Tuesday really, 12:00am)
so there's no excuse not to catch up! Set those DVR/PVR/Tivo's/VCR's at the very least!

As the 1.5 hour pilot sets up, Michael Westen is a spy who gets a burn notice, meaning, he's immediately kicked out of being a spy because someone thinks he's been compromised. He must find out who burned him, all while trying to survive the spies out to get him, the feds who are on his tail, his ex-girlfriend with a bit of a psychotic streak (Gabrielle Anwar), his best friend who is secretly spying on him for the feds (cult fave Bruce Campbell), and his nagging mom (Queer as Folk's Sharon Gless). He survives by taking on odd investigator cases every episode all while trying to find out who has been out to get him the whole time. (And the supporting cast is terrific in keeping Michael's life interesting).

It's Alias meets Veronica Mars meets MacGyver! It's a perfect guilty pleasure but I'm not even feeling guilty about because it's AWESOME! It's a frothy yet intelligent spy dramedy that is truly a LOT of FUN to watch, keeps the brain working without going into overdrive, while isn't mind numbingly silly or dumb.

And I think we might have finally met a match for Kristen Bell in Jeffrey Donovan, who seems to be born into the same sly, sarcastic and snippy smart family with whipper snapper dialogue and charm and charisma to con their way in and out of any situation. Seriously, someone needs to cast those two together as a brother and sister team or something.

I've always read about Jeffrey Donovan being intensely good in any role but I only knew him from his little hilarious spot as a vain date in Hitch but I can say I'm now a HUGE fan. Burn Notice puts his good looks, his charismatic personality, and his hilarious facial expressions to great use, but Jeffrey Donovan delivers lines in such sarcastic throwaways, all hiding a genuine softy inside (and an in-denial-mama's-boy) that Michael Westin has become one of my favorite characters on television, much to a combination of excellent writers (who also do a superb job with the mysteries of the week) and Jeffrey Donovan in the main role.

And did I mention the good looks? (A LOT more pictures and a video promo after the jump below):

There's some great guest actors too throughout the series including Lucy Lawless (Xena), Johnny Mesner (The OC), Richard Schiff (The West Wing), Seth Peterson (Providence), all character actors that I kinda love actually and deserve better, and are put into good use on the show.

Anyways, if you didn't watch it during the summer when it was apparently a big hit for USA Network, I highly recommend catching up on one of the most fun TV shows around.

Here's the original promotional clip:



Here's more pictures of Jeffrey Donovan: