Burned by Michael Westen

August

I think I finally figured out what is wrong with Burn Notice this season.

Did the writers learn nothing from Gabrielle Anwar’s disastrous attempt at an Irish accent in the pilot?

Don’t do accents.

Look, I love Jeffrey Donovan. Seriously.

I mean:

But every time this guy tries to do an accent this season, I’m completely taken out of the episode. He’s horrible at them. Really. Bad. Stinky. Poopy. Crappy. HORRIBLE.

I love looking at the guy. Sam and Fiona and Mrs. Westen are fab.

Even though the plot is recycled week after week, that’s OK. Most shows are like that, honestly.

But every time Jeffrey Donovan opens his mouth and tries to speak in a dialect or accent, all attempts at suspension of disbelief are moot. There’s no way that anyone Michael Westen’s dealing with could possibly believe the accents he’s trying to do.

The African/Australian/bastardized British accent he tried to do a few episodes back was atrocious and it stood out. The happy idiot guy who got the fake building badge made a few weeks ago was ‘eh’ at best. But last week’s accent, I couldn’t even place. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what ethnicity/nationality he was going for.

And when that happens, you lose the viewer.

So, BN staff, take notice: Drop the accents. Stick to the goofy dialogue and action and funky camera work.

We liked it last season.

The accents? Not so much.

Photo courtesy of NBC Universal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 1:46 am by Amy Vernon.
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3 Responses to “Burned by Michael Westen”

Yvonne August 21st, 2008 at 12:06 pm
LMAO-you’re absolutely right! The accents are horrible! Good call!
amy August 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 am
I love Burn Notice and I love JD too. I know he’s studied all these dialects and stuff and he’s supposed to be really good at them. But… I totally can’t buy it either. I thought maybe it was just me.

Still love the show though. Its mix of humor and MacGuyverness is right up my alley.
Aman Ali August 24th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Aren’t Michael’s accents supposed to be bad on purpose? I actually got a kick out of the nerd accent he put on in the last episode because it was so bad.

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