Pop Culture for Fun

  There’s plenty to chose from when it comes to TV spy series, old and new. From the serious, La Femme Nikita and Alias, to the not so serious, like Chuck or Get Smart. So it’s no wonder there are similar shows on different networks at times. Two of those, sharing a lot of similarities, would be Burn Notice and Human Target. While Burn Notice is in its 4th season and has another 2 announced already, Human Target barely got renewed after its first season. So why is one so popular and the other just mildly so?
  Considering they’re both centered around an ex spy (one’s ex C.I.A. and the other’s done some covert ops for dubious people in his past) , who helps people alongside a team of experts. Burn Notice has its central character Michael Westen(played by Jeffrey Donovan) team up with his ex-girlfriend (a gun-running Irish hottie) and his old pal from the Navy Seals. Human Target has Christopher Chance(played by Mark Valley) join up with an ex-cop and an old, tech/intel expert friend of his. They all get to help people each episode while also cracking some jokes and doing the old three act show.Small differences: Burn Notice’s Fiona is easy to look at while Human Target is all sausage fest. Also, Burn Notice plays the family card by having Michael’s mother as a regular and his brother as a recurring character.
  You’d think that’s all there is, but not exactly. People come to both Christopher Chance and Michael Westen when they have problems that regular channels can’t fix. And they both apply unorthodox methods when it comes to helping (like parachuting on top of a secure building to extract a weapons engineer or walking into the middle of a gang unarmed and threatening them). The difference is in the approach: while Human Target plans ahead and thinks of all available options, Christopher will improvise on occasion but that’s always to be expected, as Michael points out on more than one occasion. On the other hand, Westen does it all by throwing himself in the middle of the problem, improvising and adapting on the way. And, while Fiona(Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam(Bruce Campbell) do lend a hand from time to time, Michael is the brains of the operation. Christopher, on the other hand is quite the muscle while Winston(Chi McBride) and especially Guerrero(Jackie Earle Haley) do the thinking.
  Now, when it comes to the past haunting our heroes, each on has his cross to bear. Michael had done a lot of shady things in the past for the C.I.A. and a lot of people want him dead, not to mention he’s been burned, therefore, his former employers are more likely to shoot at him than help him, though he does want to get back into the business. Chance on the other hand is a redeemed man, having gone from working for the bad guys, to helping people, while trying to put everything behind. Past acquaintances do pop here and there throughout the first season, and when they do, their interests collide, and his former boss shows up in the season finale. The big differences is in the motivation of these characters: one is trying to get away from a life he’s rejected, and correct past sins, while the other wants to return to the only life he’s known ad he’s used to.
So there you have it. Why they’re very similar in concept, yet different once you think about it some more.

Posted on June 15th, 2010 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: TV