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The Most Awesome Thing I Saw Last Week: Bruce!

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Written by spunkybean staff

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 10:00

We at spunkybean hope that your week was suitably awesome. Sure, we hope that awesome things happened to you. Maybe you found love or got a raise or something like that. Of course, we can’t John Locke: Patron Saint of Awesome

watch you all the time, so we don’t have any way of knowing whether or not anything like that happened to you. We can, however, watch a whole lot of TV and share the awesome things we saw. It’s what we do. No need to thank us. Just enjoy.

Now, we know it’s summer and that new programming has been at a premium. Sure, Conan O’Brien is back and this makes us happy. However, considering he had Billy Mays as a guest last week, just a couple days before the legendary pitchman died, we’ve retroactively felt kind of creepy about last week’s shows. And yes, last week was a rough one, between Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. It was a bad week for icons. If only somebody blew something up and punched people to make us feel better. Oh, that’s right, somebody did…

I never seem to mention Burn Notice when I write about TV, and I think it’s time to rectify that situation. I actually started watching the show because Bruce Campbell had a regular role, and as a nerd, I’m required to follow any and all of his projects. Luckily, the show turned out to be fun and stylish, and thoroughly enjoyable. And since then, it’s gotten better and better, meaning that it’s both awesome and good.

Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) is a former secret agent who was suddenly blacklisted. Now he lives in Miami, taking on odd jobs and trying to find out who burned him. In addition to being a fantastic spy, Michael’s a nice guy who can’t pass up the chance to help people. This season, Detective Paxson has taken an interest in his activities, which is really putting a crimp in his style.

Bruce Campbell: Almost as awesome as John Locke

This week’s episode was a fantastic installment, balancing action, humor, and some nice character work in introducing a penitent thug with a soft spot for dogs. Paxson assigns a police escort to Michael, so he has to lose his tail every time he does any of his undercover work. Sam (Bruce Campbell!) has to deal with an IRS auditor, who turns out to be the son of one of his ex-girlfriends. And Michael’s on-again, off-again girlfriend is frustrated that he can’t let go of his past and just build a new life. Basically, everything clicked.

There’s so much fun here. In almost every episode, Michael goes undercover and the array of voices and mannerisms that Jeffrey Donovan has at his command will blow your mind. Personally, I’m a big fan of any episode where he plays a dumb guy, personally. Cracks me up every time. Then there’s all of Michael’s helpful asides about spy work. Did you know that you can make brass knuckles out of a butter knife? Or that a, well, “personal massage” can thwart a parabolic mike? Or that you can make your own cement using superglue and compressed air? After this episode, I’m fairly certain that I could rob a Dry Cleaner if necessary. (Turns out, those moving racks can rip the padlock right off a door!)

Bruce Campbell is hilarious as Sam Axe, and it’s fun to see him playing a character who’s getting older and just might have his best days behind him. And he still gets to kick ass, and even gets some really nice dramatic scenes, as when he was tortured at the end of the first season. This week he really shined, as he fumbled his way through an audit. Apparently, Sam takes a lot of liberties on his taxes.

All in all, I’m comfortable pronouncing Burn Notice as the Most Awesome Thing I Saw Last Week.

Second place: David Cross’ appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he detailed his recent experience with crack. That’s right.

MYNDI

I'll let you in on a little something...I'm not exactly the target demo for the BET Awards. However, in light of the sudden death of Michael Jackson, producers reportedly decided to scrap much of what was planned in favor of Jackson tributes galore. I figured it was a win-win...it could be either awesome, or awesomely putrid. Turns out, a little of both.

Host Jamie Foxx came out in full "Beat It" regalia and faithfully re-created the dance from the video, but then made jokes like, "he was Wesly Snipes and Chico DeBarge at the same time." Ha? I realize some people prefer to celebrate the dead rather than somberly mourn, but it really did seem a bit soon to joke like that. Enjoy some music? Absolutely! But no need to make humor out of the man's appearance when you've billed your show as a tribute.

The show became a defacto tribute as soon as Jackson's death sunk in, so viewers were expecting more of that than they really got. Sure, they had awards to pass out--many of which were given to winner without even showing all of the nominees in the category, but it was all so choppy.

Ne-Yo seems to be Michael's heir apparent (Chris Brown, who's a hell of a dancer as well as a singer, really screwed the pooch on that one, what with the assault and battery). He did a lovely job both with the stripped down version of "Lady in My Life" and his duet on "I'll Be There" at the end with Foxx. Ciara kind of crapped on "Heal the World" because she's not a very good singer without the help of AutoTune; and Beyonce had the biggest WTF? moment with a completely self-indulgent performance that combined "Ave Maria" in Latin and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" (no, really; at the BET Awards) with some freakish blue lighting and an obnoxious costume. I'm sorry, but you can't tell me she doesn't have a single MJ or Jackson 5 song rehearsed and ready that she could have busted out on short notice.

The O-Jays were honored for Lifetime Achievement and totally rocked it out, schooling most of the new generation of artists. I'm still not sure why Jeremy Piven or The Real Housewives of Atlanta were there, but I'm no talent booker. The best of the night has to go to the reunited original New Edition lineup. Yes, that included a bloated and winded Bobby Brown, who admirably shuffled through the choreography, even though it was not easy for him to keep up with Ronnie, Ricky, Mike or Ralph. Their Jackson 5 tribute opened the show, and it was truly worthy of awesome status.

(Sorry for the length and quality of the clip. I can't seem to find the entire performance online, even on BET's site!)

One more thing...Janet Jackson bravely came onstage to thank everyone and was visibly choked up. Papa Joe, on the other hand? Sat stoically in the audience, looking as creepy as usual and actually pimped something about his record company on the red carpet. Three days after his son died suddenly. That man is classy, isn't it?

Have an awesome week...we have nowhere to go but up in the world of pop culture!

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