By Jennifer Iaccino

Burn Notice will air the summer finale entitled, “Long Way Back,” this Thursday at 9/8 central.  Series stars Sharon Gless (Madeline) and Bruce Campbell (Sam) answered questions, earlier this week, about the show, their characters, and what things they’d like to see next season.

Question> Bruce, I know that you played in Xena and Hercules as sort of a rogue who helped out the good guys as well.  And Sharon, obviously you played Cagney, a bad-ass cop and she also knew her way around bad guys.  So I was curious how these roles and others may have helped to cultivate the characters that you play on Burn Notice.

Bruce>  Go ahead, Sharon.

Sharon>  Well, the only bad guys I have to find my way around are Jeffrey and Bruce.  I mean, my job on the show is the mother from hell.  I don’t get involved in the heavy stuff like they do. 

Bruce>   Sharon, your character is scarier than some of the bad guys.

Question> You helped out in that case when Bruce got captured and you were sort of interrogating the one guy.

Sharon>   That’s right, I think that’s when Michael was captured.

Question>  Yes, that’s when Michael was captured.

Sharon>  Right, that was very, very funny.  It’s not often that I get to do one-upsmanship on Bruce Campbell.

Bruce>  What’s amazing is she turned out to be a very good interrogator and then who knew.  I actually think we’re going to see in the scenes that come – because Sharon, you were also on a stakeout and you had to spot somebody.   You had to be a lookout.

Sharon>   At the bingo game.

Bruce>  Right.  So don’t kid yourself.  You’re going to be an operative before too long maybe.

Sharon>   Okay, look out.

Question>  How about you, Bruce?

Bruce>  Well, I mean, I’ve always enjoyed playing a little left of center characters.  Otherwise I’d be on a soap opera, you know.  What’s attractive to me was that these are real characters.  These are characters who drink and smoke and make mistakes and have foibles in love and try to fix their mother's garbage disposal.  That’s what’s attractive to me.  That’s what got me into this show and knowing that I’m with four, three other kind of seasoned adult actors.  That’s always attractive when you know you’re going to be working with people that it’s going to be worth showing up for.

Sharon>   It’s true.

Bruce>   It’s made a big difference.  And this show, I can’t speak for Sharon, but this show came out of nowhere.  The things that I plan never happen.  Things that I don’t plan do. 

Sharon>  Exactly.  That’s how I thought.  I think that when Bruce and I first – we were interviewed together.  Do you remember that, in Pasadena or somewhere?

Bruce>   Yes.

Sharon>  And I was actually sitting in the fat farm and this script arrived and I was sitting all alone in  my room and it made me laugh out loud and I was all by myself.  And I thought, this is funny.  This is fun, I like this.  It had substance to it, too.

Bruce>   It probably didn’t hurt that you live in Miami, too.

Sharon>   I forgot about that, but I didn’t tell them that during the interview.

Bruce>   Exactly.

Sharon>  I wanted to live in a hotel like you guys.  And then when it sold, I had to ‘fess up.

Bruce>  Right.

Sharon>  Yes, I do, though, I do live here in Miami.

Question> What sorts of methods and what type of influences do you use to inform your characters and your portrayal of each of your characters?  Like what do you draw upon to, in your characterization of Sam and of Madeline?

Sharon>  Well, my husband said, when he read the script, chain smoking half the time.  And he said, how lucky are you, they’re paying you to smoke.  So he said, wow, you do all the things with the cigarette.  I said, “Well, yeah, I already knew how to do that.”  What do I draw on?  I’ve never actually had children, myself, but I just connected with Jeffrey’s character and every week it’s different and as the show goes along, Madeline, my character, first she’s totally in the dark and very needy and very sort of just all sort of emotional things that are unattractive.  And as time went on, Matt Nix said, “ Sharon, she’s smarter than what I was writing.”  And he gave me one clue, he said, “Remember, he gets his smarts from her.”  I said, “Oh, okay.”  So I just took that information and it gave me and my character a little more confidence.  But I don’t know, how do you prepare for playing someone who’s manipulative?  Is it built in?  I don’t know. 

Bruce>  When you’re in show business, you know lots of manipulating people.

Sharon>  Yes, that’s true.  But I try to do the manipulation with humor.  Hopefully, that’s how it’s coming across.

Question> Bruce, why doesn’t Sam Axe’s personality match the normal ex-military stereotypes?  He seems really upbeat compared to how most shows depict characters that have been in serious military situations.

Bruce>  I think my character is actually more accurate.  I think I run into some of these guys.  My first wife remarried a police officer, and I’ll tell you these guys like having a good time when they’re not working.  They don’t sit around mopey dope, they sit around and crack gallows humor, lots of gallows humor, dark humor.  Frankly, I think they’re happy that they’re alive most of these guys after going through all of this and they have a good joie de vivre that the average executive might not have.  So I should think Sam is very indicative of the real guys, you know guys who are my age who have mustered out in their 50’s.  Believe me, most of them are drinking beer and sitting around a pool cracking jokes about the old days. 

Sharon>  In my experience in having done Cagney & Lacey many years ago, we had technical advisors on the set and we had detectives and police.  Not exactly in the role that Bruce is playing, but these guys who see so much really do have a very macabre sense of humor.  And I do think that’s how they stay sane.

Question> Aside from you two getting drunk together, how do you want to see Sam and Madeline’s relationship evolve in season four.  And for either one of you if Michael did re-establish his link to the espionage community, what would happen to Sam and Fiona? 

Bruce>  Well, go ahead, Sharon, give it a whack.

Sharon>  Well, I think Sam and Maddie have kind of a really cool relationship.  We were given a chance to live together.  That helps.  I didn’t tell you this, Bruce, that I really miss the fact that you moved out. 

Bruce>  I know.

Sharon>  Yes.  But that gives you a chance to come back.  How do I see the relationship evolving?  I see it as all good.  I see that it can get rougher, it can get more tender, and I think there’s a myriad of things that can come out of a relationship with two people who do respect each other and who both love this one man, this boy, my boy and his friend.

Bruce>  And you know the one thing I should say, too.  I can’t speak for other actors, but I don’t really probe the writers, I honestly don’t.  I haven’t bugged them in three years about what’s coming up with Sam.  Whether he’s going to have a home or a girlfriend.  I like to sit back, just like the audience, and let it happen.  I get excited reading the next script, because I don’t really know what they have planned.  The season finale, I couldn’t tell you sitting here right now what’s going to happen.  Not because I’m lying or that I’m not supposed to, I don’t know because I haven’t asked, I don’t want to know.  So you know . . .

Sharon>  I’m the same way.  I never ask about what’s going to happen with my character.

Bruce>  No, because . . . as we’ve seen, they’re good writers so you know, get out of their face.  We don’t like them in our face, I don’t get in their face.

Question> Do you think the show is staying on track or do you think they’re starting to maybe branch out in new directions with the show?

Sharon>  I never know where they’re going to go with the show.  I’m always surprised every time I open up the script and see what they’re doing.  I don’t know if there’s a track.  I think sort of the beauty of the show is that it constantly surprises.  I mean the track would be for Michael and the end for Michael to find the man who burned him, or the woman.  Is that what you’re saying by the final tracks?

Question> Do you think they’re staying along with that story line or do you think they’re going to change ?

Sharon>  Well, that story line exists, yes, constantly throughout he’s been trying to find, but in the interim he’s pulled off into other directions.  It’s not just that story.

Bruce>  I think the show is ultimately like other successful shows, it’s a hybrid of putting on that old shoe every Thursday.  You want that comfortable shoe, you want to hang with Fiona, Michael and Mom.  And you know, see what adventures they’re going to get into every week.  Yet, at the same time, you know, season two is the evil woman Carla.  So she’s gone now, so there is a constant progression.  This season his problems have gotten worse, so and who knows what’s going to happen, but I think they will always try and do both.  Give you familiar aspects and an ever-changing show. 

Question> The show sort of projects itself as a tutorial.  It teaches you about different operatives and things you can use in real life.  Have either of you ever been motivated to go ahead and try some of these things that the show teaches?

Bruce>  No, and I don’t recommend it either.  I don’t recommend that anybody build anything from any fictional show.

Sharon>  Right.  Don’t try this at home.

Bruce>  It’s very important, do not try this at home for all kinds of reasons.  I do know, as an adventurous child, we sent UFOs up that were constructed of dry cleaning bags over balsa wood struts with candles as thrusters.  And you know, we could have set the woods on fire.  We had homemade explosives, we could have blown our hands off.  So growing up in suburban Detroit, I definitely had an older brother who was crazy and we were always mixing the wrong things together.  Making gunpowder, and so I’m glad to have survived, actually.  But now as an adult I can look back and go, “Yeesh, man that was stupid.”  So I don’t caution the separation of church and state when it comes to TV shows it’s all fake, folks.

Sharon>  When I was watching the show.  Alright, we know I can’t look at my own stuff.  But anyway, I asked Matt in reading all these scripts.  I said, “Matt,” I’ve been in scenes or standing by watching Michael and Sam and Fi build stuff right there with whatever they had.  And they go in really close and said to Matt, I said, “Matt, this looks really real.  I mean you’re going to have people go home and aren’t children watching this?”  And he said, “ Sharon, I always leave some things out.” 

Bruce>  There’s always about three ingredients that he leaves out.

Sharon>  Yes.

Question> Hi, thank you for taking our calls today.  I’m a huge fan of yours, Sharon, and I’m just thrilled to be on this call with you.  I’ve been a fan since Marcus Welby.

Sharon>  May I interject something for a minute?  Do you know I was put on Marcus Welby as a regular for a year because I was to be a love interest of James Brolin, and they said that there was absolutely no chemistry between James Brolin and me and I got fired. 

Bruce>  You failed the chemistry test.

Sharon>  He was waiting for Barbara, I guess.  I don’t know.

Question> And so you ended up on Cagney and Lacey. 

Sharon>  Yes.

Question> So it was a good thing.  Speaking of Cagney and Lacey, you’re going to have somewhat of a reunion coming up this Sunday night.  Can you talk about that a little bit? I just wanted to know if you could talk about getting together with Ms. Daly again and working with her again.

Sharon>  It was wonderful.  And I’m not just saying that.  Tyne Daly is one of the finest actresses I’ve ever met or ever had the pleasure of working with.  It was just like old times.   I mean they were different characters, but we know each other now and her mother had a great expression.  Okay, her mom said, “Sweat makes a great cement.”  And she and I sweat together for six years and we just know each other’s timing, we know, and we love, we love to rehearse, we love to work, and it was a real treat for me and I think for all of us to have her on the show.

Bruce>  It was great to watch.  Yes, we loved it and the crew and the cast. …

Question> In the very first episode, Gabrielle’s character who was Irish throughout it and then come the second episode without any explanation, she was suddenly American.  Or it was almost like that and Sharon, Madeline in the show, is an unsecure, attention-seeking, chain smoking hypochondriac so I was wondering how much of the real life you is involved in that role?

Sharon>  Let’s see, insecure and chain smoking, hi.  Madeline, your direct question to me was how much am I like Madeline.  Madeline is growing, even though she doesn’t take as many pills.  How much am I like her?  I don’t know, I think there’s always a piece of me in everything that I play and you just go somewhere and you say, “Yeah, I can imagine that,” and you play it.  Well, I’ve never had children but I’m, as the years go on in the show, I’m understanding every episode more about my relationship with this boy.  He’s complicated, but I’ve not had children of my own, but I’m an actress, so I don’t know how I do it.

Bruce>  And with regard to your question about Fiona, I can’t answer that because it’s not a Sam question.

Question> With Burn Notice appealing to such a wide audience, have either of you noticed like a shift in either of your fan bases.  Like Bruce do more people come to you and talk about Sam Axe and Burn Notice or is it still mostly people showing you tattoos that they’ve gotten of your face?

Bruce>  No, it’s been nice.  I’m now the old guy on Burn Notice, so it’s awesome.  I get to be a whole new persona of being spotted.  And then there’s all those fans who will discover Burn Notice and then they’ll go back and go, “Oh, he was in these weird movies from years ago.”  So I don’t care how they discover whatever, it’s all fine, I’m just glad they’re watching the show.

Question> Have you seen a Sam Axe tattoo yet? 

Bruce>  No, I haven’t seen a Sam Axe tattoo.  I’m looking forward to my very first one.

Question> What about you, Sharon, is it still mostly Cagney and Lacey for you or are you getting more recognition for your work in Burn Notice. 

Sharon>  It would depend on who I’m talking to.  They may initially say Cagney and Lacey, but most people who come up to me now are still, and now do recognize me as Maddie in Burn Notice.

Bruce>  Also on Queer as Folk.

Sharon>  The demographics we have on this show span such an age range.  I mean what I’m getting that’s neat for me is young people.  Sometimes they’re a little too afraid, but their parents may be with them.  And I mean I actually I’m not used to this.  I actually had a 10-year old that’s not usually my demographic, had come up and his father brought him up and the boy said, “Are you on Burn Notice?”  And I said, “Yes, I am.”  He said, “That’s so cool!”  So I’m learning more about the younger ones and it’s fun for me.

Question> Will the romantic tension between your characters ever be developed?

Bruce>  No, I don’t think we’d ever want the romantic angle because it would be too creepy sleeping with Michael’s mother.  You know, it’s too inbred . . .

Sharon>  I know.

Bruce>  We’ve developed a familial attitude of almost more like cousins or something.

Sharon>  Yes, I agree.  And someone had asked me that before about what if the two of you, you know, and I said we’d have to probably be very drunk and the next morning it would be really hard at the water cooler.

Bruce>  Exactly.

Sharon>  I think it would ruin a potential of what they still have yet to build.

Bruce>  I agree.

Sharon>  Sex ruins everything.  Okay.  So did we just lose everyone on that one?

Question> Have there been things that you’ve kind of ad-libbed or done specific to your acting approach that have shown up in later episodes that you were happy with?

Bruce>  Yes, I feel that at the beginning, you speak how the writers write and after a while they write how you speak.  So I think there tends to be a line up there, an adjustment to every good writer knows what that particular actor does well and what they don’t do well.  And I think over time they’ll go, “Madeline’s really great at this or that.”  And they’ll write that sort of stuff.  Or, “Sam’s really fun with interrogations.  Let’s write that more of those.”  Or with the dramatic thing they might not see as many of those come up. 

Sharon>  And where I think we eventually are becoming what my husband used to call custodians of our own character.  And I mean I don’t screw around with the dialogue too much and sometimes I’ll add stuff just because I think it’s funny. I’m amusing myself.  And every once in a while, Oh my God, they kept it in.  And that tickles me, but I try to stick to what they write and then you know, you sort of add little stuff just to open it up a little.

Bruce>  And I think generally, Sharon, neither of us really get up in the morning wishing we could come and sit and ad lib, but some things do occur to you on the moment.

Sharon>  Yes, exactly.  And sometimes they stay in and sometimes they don’t.

Bruce>  Right, exactly. 

Question> Sharon, what would Christine Cagney would think of Madeline and also what Madeline would have thought of Christine Cagney because they’re both non-traditional characters but in very different ways. 

Sharon>  Yes, I don’t see them going camping together.  I think that’s a very good, it’s a hard question.  They’re so different.  I don’t know.  I think Madeline might have a little more respect for Christine and what she does, maybe not her attitude. Christine was highly competitive.  I don’t know if she liked any other women around.  There was an episode where they brought in a young cop who was going to observe and they became sort of comedic because Christine just didn’t want anything to do with her and all the men were all over the woman, of course.  I don’t think Christine sees anybody but herself, do you know what I’m saying, herself and her work.  That was part of her problem.  She was a raging alcoholic, I mean they were very different.  But I don’t know, maybe if you sat them down in a bar together that they’d get along.  That might true.  That’s the best I can do I think.  I could see them just forgetting what either of them do and what their backgrounds are and just sitting down and having a drink.