Are you feeling burned by 'Burn Notice?'

Call it the Heroes effect.

When many people got so upset with Heroes in its second season, I wasn't one of them.

Not because I didn't think the show had issues in its sophomore season (crying twins, an isolated Hiro, etc.) but because I wasn't madly in love with the show in the first place. My heartbreak was mitigated by the fact that the show didn't have as far to fall in my eyes.

That's kind of how I feel about Burn Notice. I've always enjoyed the show but I wasn't a die hard fan. So when I started receiving emails from people who aren't in love with the show this season, I was surprised. I still think the show is perfectly entertaining and Jeffrey Donovan remains so much fun to watch (and listen) to. The cases still crackle, the humor still sparks and I can't get enough of Sharon Gless as Michael's mom.

Many of you don't seem on board with this season's mystery. And the show does seem to be on a rather slow reveal about Carla (Tricia Helfer) and what exactly she's up to? TV Gal reader Tiffany put it this way "The first four episodes this season are not really rocking my boat. I'm not ready to start screaming sophomore slump, but the second season doesn't have that same punch, that same excitement that the first season brought."

Do you agree with Tiffany? Disagree? Talk about it below.

When Good People Happen to Bad Shows

Last night when I was watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager (sorry I can't help myself. I'm definitely starting a support group next week. The meeting will begin with my reenactment of the opening scene between Grace and Jack. I've been rehearsing for weeks. You're going to love it, but I digress), anyway it occurred to me you know not everyone on the show is a terrible actor. While a lot of the teens seem to have attended the 7th Heaven School of Acting, Shailene Woodley is doing some beautiful work as Amy on that show. She rises above her often nonsensical dialogue and turns in a performance that often brings tears to my eyes.

So it got me thinking about actors who are better than the show they are on. Folks who were on shows (often short-lived ones) where they were so much better than the material they had to work with.

Here are some that immediately came to my mind:

Constance Zimmer as Penny on Good Morning, Miami: She was so good that the show scrapped its original premise and had us rooting for Jack (Mark Feuerstein) to date Penny and not Dylan (Ashley Williams). Or at least I was rooting for Penny.

Matthew Glave (right) as Rick on Life on a Stick: This show barely lasted two months on FOX but Glave's comic timing was perfection. Since then I've thought that Glave (now appearing on Army Wives) so deserved his own show.

Jason George as Status Quo on Off Centre: I'm so thrilled that George is now on Eli Stone. The only time Off Centre ever made me laugh was when George's rap star made an appearance.

John Barrowman as Peter Fairchild on Central Park West: Those who love him now as Captain Jack Harkness on Torchwood might have missed the opportunity to see Barrowman in this short-lived soap from Darren Star. Barrowman also went on to do some nice work on Aaron Spelling's Titans, another not-so-great primetime soap where he still was so much fun to watch.

When have you taken note of a good actor on a bad show? Talk about it below.

Where Have I Seen Them Before?

It was a good week for Jeff Fahey. Kim and Aaron were the first to recognize him as Dutch on Psych and then he was William's friend Quinn on The Cleaner. Fahey is known to many as The Lawnmower Man and last season he was Frank Lapidus on Lost.

The Cleaner/Lost connection continued. That was Neil Hopkins as the drug addicted professor. Hopkins played Charlie's brother Liam on Lost. Susan May Pratt was the girlfriend of the coke addict on The Cleaner. I most remember her as the star of the movie Center Stage (a great bad movie if you like dancing).

Lost guest stars were all over the place. Andrew Divoff was the man trafficking women on Burn Notice. He was Mikhail on Lost. Seth Petersen is Michael's brother Nate on Burn Notice. I remember him as Sydney's brother Robbie on Providence. Larry Miller was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Agricultural Association who wasn't giving Sam the information he needed. Miller was Edwin Poole on Boston Legal, Tommy on 8 Simple Rules, and we'll see him soon in the new CBS comedy Gary Unmarried.

Tawny Cypress was the reporter who did the story on Pamela on Army Wives. She was Simone on Heroes and Ginger "Love Tap" LeBeau on the short-lived K-ville. She'll return to Army Wives this week.

Jason Wiles was the Chicago police officer in witness protection on In Plain Sight. Wiles was Alex on Commander in Chief, Bosco on Third Watch, and, of course, Colin on Beverly Hills 90210.

Mimi Rogers was the older woman Mike spent some quality time with on My Boys. Among her many roles, she was Meryl on The Loop (where she also had a fondness for younger men), Hillary on The Geena Davis Show and Agent Diana Fowley on The X-Files. Gennie recognized Christopher McDonald as Bobby's womanizing father. He was Rex Weller on Family Law and Bryce on Veronica's Closet. And we just saw him as Mr. Haversham on the season premiere of Psych.

Diane recognized Richard Kahan, Marco on The 4400, Derek Bowers on Eureka.

Chuck recognized Chandra West as Rebecca, the woman who held a gun on her brother-in-law on Flashpoint. West was Tina on John from Cincinnati and Dr. Jennifer Devlin on NYPD Blue. Chuck also remembered her as Holly, the CSI who was killed in the CSI pilot.

That's all for today. I'm back on Friday with quotes of the week. Have a question? Seen a familiar face? Want to nominate a quote of the week? Write me at amytvgal@zap2it.com. Talk to you on Friday.

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