Miami is known for its glamorous criminality. Shows like Miami Vice and movies like Scarface are just some of the earlier productions that reshaped Miami’s image from a place to go when it’s time to retire to a sunny place for shady people. This makes Miami the perfect backdrop for any show where the good guys go after the bad guys, and in the case of Burn Notice, the ex-spy goes after the international criminal cartels.
Burn Notice came to Miami in 2007. Originally show producer Max Nix wanted the show to be set in New Jersey, a more believable location for recently dismissed secret agent Michael Weston to live out his own retirement, when the USA Network decided that they wanted a bigger contrast between the character and his environment and selected Miami as the location for Burn Notice. The name of the show comes from the saying “Spies don’t get pink slips, they get burn notices” and it looks like Burn Notice is getting its pink slip after all.
After a successful seven years of filming in Miami, Burn Notice has been cancelled. The show was being funded by production incentives from the Florida State Legislature and when Florida decided to cease funding the program Burn Notice decided to cancel the TV show after 111 episodes. Although they still than enough financial support for at least two more seasons, rumor has it that the funding did not allow for higher salaries for the cast and an exhausted creative team.
In addition to Burn Notice, two other South Florida TV shows were recently canceled. Magic City, a TV show set in Miami in 1959 about the owner of a luxury hotel, and The Glades, set in Palm Beach County, about Chicago detective who takes a position with The Florida Department of Law Enforcement. These two shows were canceled in August 2013 around the same time that the state’s production incentives stopped being funded.
For those of you are looking to see more of Michael Weston’s adventures, there has been talk of a movie or perhaps a spin-off of some sort. Although no one has asked the Burn Notice creators to write any scripts just yet, the series finale was left open ended. Burn Notice will be missed in Miami, and so will the production incentives that will allow state funding for future South Florida shows.
