Stop laughing, I'm serious! I'm a big fan of spy capers in general (ask anyone who's ever talked to me for more than 5 minutes -- Alias and Ian Fleming come up pretty frequently), so maybe I'm biased, but I swear to you, USA's Burn Notice is worth watching. It's full of fun factoids (did you know Nigeria is the gun-running capital of Africa? How about how to make a bug out of two cell phones? Or how about the fact that money launderers are "like the Yellow Pages of criminals"? I didn't either!), useful combat tips (actual quote: "When you fight, you have to be careful not to break the little bones in your hands on someone's face." - oh, if only I'd known that in my youth...), and a fabulous supporting cast (Bruce Campbell as a skirt-chasing alcoholic and former spy, and Cagney from Cagney & Lacey as a pill-popping hypochondriac and communications specialist, among others). Combine all that with a few expensive-looking car chases and a heartwarming fight for the underdog B-story, and you've got an entertaining damn show! Check out the pilot for after the jump. .

Tags: alias, bruce campbell, burn notice, cagney & lacey, usa

Because my beloved Burn Notice is taking a three-week break from the airwaves starting tonight, I've had to turn to Hulu to get my Thursday Bruce Campbell fix. Luckily, they have the complete series of his short-lived, action-comedy atrocity, Jack of All Trades. And when I say it's an atrocity, I mean it with love, but that's exactly what it is. If you've never seen the show, the farce follows Campbell as an early 19th century American spy sent to the West Indies to mess up Napoleon's game. Every episode put Campbell's jokey sense of humor front and center, which works sometimes, really doesn't other times and, well... let's just say Verne Troyer plays Napoleon, so it's that kind of humor. After the jump, watch The Bruce-man stick it to Napoleon for kidnapping Ben Franklin. Sidenote: Was Napoleon really as big a bastard in real life as he is in American film and television? It seems hard to imagine. Anyway, enjoy the episode! You've been warned!

Tags: Bruce Campbell, Burn Notice, Jack of All Trades, Verne Troyer, video

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. ...Okay, I guess I should say more, since I'm the one who begged to write a gushing love note to the Season 2 premiere of Burn Notice, the USA Network's sizzling spy series. I should point out that it was actually my very first episode, having not seen any Season 1 episodes, I'd only read M. Giant's handy cheat sheet, so it was like getting thrown into the middle of a firefight with only the barest idea of what to expect. Hey, kinda like how ex-spy Michael Westen started off the episode! Here're my five favorite things about the premiere.

Tags: Bruce Campbell, Burn Notice, Gabrielle Anwar, Jeffrey Donovan, Premiere, virgin

It's finally here! The first installment of Joss Whedon's online action musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, debuted last night, and oh, it was glorious! We couldn't get the official website to load over here, but fortunately it's also available (for the standard $1.99) on iTunes, so don't get discouraged if you can't watch it online.

The first act is indeed a lot of fun and it made me laugh out loud several times, but I do have one teensy complaint: despite the title, it is not a sing-along in the traditional sense. There are no lyrics on the screen with a bouncing dot, which, right or wrong is what I expected. But perhaps I'm too literal. Anyway, back to the fun stuff!

Tags: bruce campbell, dr. horrible's sing-along blog, joss whedon, lost, nathan fillion, neil patrick harris