Burn Notice/Trivia

Actor Allusion: Sam and Fiona approach a group of con artists while under the guise of federal agents who had been monitoring them. Sam introduces himself and Fi as detectives Cagney and Lacey, alluding to costar Sharon Gless.
- Additionally, in the second season Fiona starts dating a man named Campbell. In one episode, a conversation between Fiona and Sam takes place, with Fiona commenting on how good-looking a particular man is, to which Sam (played by Bruce Campbell) replies, "Well, he's no Campbell."
- Michael also makes contact with a middle-eastern operative named Anwar in one episode.
- Inverted in a "Signals and Codes" where the client of the week was played by an actor named Michael Weston.
- In one episode, Sam and a contact are discussing people who only use one name, and Sam says "Spider-Man" as an example. Bruce Campbell has a cameo in all three of the Spider-Man movies.
- And in the winter premiere of season 3, Tyne Daly guest stars.
- Word of God mentions that as a general rule, they write characters with a specific actor in mind. This is in part due to the need to quickly establish characters and chemistry (see the above Tyne Daly instance) as it is just having fun.
- There was also "False Flag", where Fi said Sam's bulletproof vest smells like Old Spice and bourbon. Bruce Campbell is a spokesperson for Old Spice.
- In one episode, Sam is doing surveillance on Carla, who takes time to swim. Commenting on her ability, Sam says: "The woman is a machine." Carla's actress, Tricia Helfer, played a ~~robot~~ gynoid on Battlestar Galactica.
- In 5x6, Sam compliments Mike on his chin. Mike instantly turns to face Sam, seemingly very surprised, and notes that it means a lot coming from Sam. Bruce Campbell (Sam) really is known for his chin among other things - he even titled the book he authored after his chin.
- A recent episode showed Gabrielle Anwar once again getting to tango.
Actor Shared Background
Hey, It's That Guy!: Jeffrey Donovan himself can be seen in a dozen small roles before he hit paydirt with this show, notably as the slimy businessman Will Smith beats up in Hitch.
- Michael's first post-burn notice client has the distinction of being Angel Batista (or General Garza), and Leland Palmer (or the Devil himself) functions as the first Villain of the Week.
- Tom Baldwin gets scammed out of a painting by Michael in "Seek and Destroy."
- They seem to be running through Jeffrey Donovan's old The Pretender co-stars. Patrick Bauchau (Sydney) plays Lucien the bombmaker in "Eye for an Eye", and Michael T. Weiss (Jarod) plays the lead bank robber in "Army of One".
- Number Six is Carla, who is also Sarah Kerrigan and EDI.
- Victor is Daniel Jackson! He ditched the glasses and linguistics for badass shades.
- Cordelia Chase is the wife of a bio-weapons specialist in "Better Halves". Or Kendall Casablancas, depending on your viewing preferences.
- Alex Krycek is still playing on the wrong side of the law when Michael has to take down his squeaky clean politician brother, in what appears to be an inversion of Michael and Nate's relationship.
- James, the CEO of HLX, is Peter Fleming.
- Sergeant James Doakes makes a brief appearance as one of Michael's temporary meeting facilitators in Season 3. Mike even injects him with a syringe Dexter-style to make him think he's been poisoned.
- Dead Larry is, depending on your age, Vice President Hoynes or Otter.
- Harry Dresden comes calling as a terrorist leader bent on capturing Fiona and dragging her back to Ireland. Needless to say, Michael makes sure it doesn't end well for him.
- Simon is Cromartie and John Henry! The scene with him slow-motion walking towards an injured Michael in a police uniform with a pistol gripped at his side is a clear Shout-Out. The show seems to have a habit of hiring former Terminators on.
- Jesse's good-hearted government contact Marv is Uncle Chuck!
- Kendra the assassin is Amita.
- Sherry, aka "Babycakes", in "Damned if You Do" is Libby.
- John Barrett, the Big Bad for the first half of Season 4, is played by Robert Patrick, aka T-1000/Tom Ryan.
- The Big Show appears as a goofy Gentle Giant ex-con in Season 5 episode "No Good Deed".
- Ian, The Atoner client from Season 5, is Val Resnick.
- Rebecca, possible The Dragon for Season 6 is T-X, and another member of Michael's CIA team is Superman.
- Why haven't we seen Prof. Slater in 2 years? Because she's a CIA agent.
- After Michael gave Harlan to the Colombians, he managed to escape and is now in deep cover in Cougar Town, with a severe drinking problem.
Shout-Out:
- In 3x04 "Fearless Leader," a pack of "Morley" brand cigarettes show up--the favorite choice of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Also in that episode, the Villain of the Week is named after actor (and frequent episode director) Tim Matheson.
  - There are a few of these. A hotel at the end of season 2 is named after William Wages (executive producer?) and the VOTW from "The Hunter" is named for Jeremiah Chechik, director.
- See the Gordon Korman book "Our Man Weston" for a possible source of Mike's surname.
- In 3x14 "Partners in Crime," Sam, while pretending to be an uber-cool crime lab technician, does a Glasses Pull while delivering a pitch-perfect Horatio Caine one-liner. Twice. Yeeeaaahhhhh!
- Perhaps a subtle or unintentional one but in Season 3 finale while fighting, Simon takes Michael from behind and slams him repeatedly against a wall. The short sequence uses the much of the same cinematography as the fight between the T-800 and T-1000 from Terminator 2. Earlier in the episode, Simon walks out from behind the heat haze of an explosion in a police outfit - again, sharing similar cinematography to what the Terminator series of works have used prior. Garrett Dillahunt (Simon) previously played a Terminator and AI in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Simon and Fiona also got to talk to Olivia Benson.
- Max and Strickler were patients at Seatle Grace hospital, agent Pierce was a nurse there.
- In "Where There's Smoke", a gang of kidnappers is led by two brothers named Eddy and Jacob.
- In "Breach of Faith", Sam mentions how he really wanted a Red Rider BB rifle as a kid.
- In "Out of the Fire", Sam dryly quips to Brennen: "Don't take my silence for stupidity. I was just trying to kill you with my mind.
- In "Last Stand", Michael is taken to Washington D.C. and given a coat by his handler before being escorted into a building. Fridge Brilliance at its finest.
- In "Hard Out" the front that the Oil company uses to hire the mecenarys is called Pyramid Group
- The last fight in "Better Halves" evokes the mallfight in Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Michael and Fi spend the episode to be Mr. and Mrs. Johnes.
What Could Have Been: Word of God mentions that originally, Burn Notice would have been a lot darker and taken place in Newark, New Jersey.
There are a number of similarities between Burn Notice and Alpha Protocol - main character named Mike, a basic theme of a spy who has been cut loose by his own agency and is on the run, betrayal, and so on.