Burn Notice: Season 3

(USA Network, Thursday, June 4, 9 p.m.)

The third season of USA Network’s hit spy drama Burn Notice finds Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) picking himself out of the ocean after electing not to join the group that burned him.

Liberation from that organization’s watch, however, makes Westen the quarry of many other interested parties. During the first three episodes made available for review, that puts guy Friday Sam (Bruce Campbell) and explosives expert and former girlfriend Fi (Gabrielle Anwar) back in the business of saving Mike’s butt.

The beauty of the show — its setting, glibness, smarts and confidence (games) aside — emanates from its self-contained episodes, which gradually move the overarching storyline ahead. So if you miss one installment, you’re not going to remain Lost. Westen evidently will spend the third campaign trying to gain CIA reinstatement.

Characters receiving recurrent early third-season play: Benny (Paul Tei), this time helping the team with his computer skills; and Miami police detective Michelle Paxson (Monn Bloodgood), whose interest in Mike may extend beyond just busting him.

After establishing an original programming beachhead for USA on Thursdays, cable’s biggest show this side of TNT’s The Closer has a new role: as a lead-in to help launch series Royal Pains (see separate review).

— Mike Reynolds

Royal Pains

(USA Network, Thursday, June 4, 10 p.m.)

What’s brilliant New York doctor Hank Lawson to do when he loses everything — job, fiancée and his Netflix account? Go to the beach, of course.

In USA’s new series Royal Pains, Hank (Mark Feuerstein) makes a fateful on-the-job judgment call that gets him blacklisted by the medical profession and reduced to sitting at home while beer bottles, pizza boxes and unpaid bills pile up. Enter younger brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo), who convinces Hank to join him for a weekend at the shore where they crash a party for the mega-rich.

When a party-goer is suddenly stricken ill, Hank steps in and saves her life. In the process, he unwittingly gets a reputation as the new house-calling doc in town who, for a price, spares his patients the inconvenience of a trip to the local hospital.

The tony twist on the “small-town” doc has promise, but Royal Pains doesn’t seem sure what to do with it. Shot on location, the show basks in the sun, surf and chateaus of the Hamptons, but dwells on Hank’s moral protestations at every lucky break that comes his way. While he finally opts to stick around, it’s only after meeting a local Florence Nightingale who wants to help the less fortunate.

Still, some viewers may tune in just to see which Hank finally wins out — Dr. Do-Good or Dr. Feel-Good.

— George Vernadakis

Unsung

(TV One, Saturday, June 7, 8 p.m.)

Unsung is the title of TV One’s new music documentary series and aptly describes the successful R&B artists profiled in the show that never gained true superstar status. But the title is also befitting for this excellent and underrated series.

The series deftly brings to light the lives of some of the best known African-American artists of the 1970s and 1980s who had meteoric rises but since fallen out of the collective consciousness of the music industry.

The Unsung episode sent for review was about Minnie Riperton, best known for her 1973 hit ballad Lovin’ You, which fully showcased her incredible five-octave vocal range. The show not only highlights Riperton’s musical career and her battle with cancer, but provides an informative look into her personal life uniquely told through her perspective through rare home movies and taped interviews, as well as the perspective of those who knew her best.

TV One aired four specials of the series under the radar late last year, but the network should make sure the word gets out on the upcoming eight episodes that mark the series’ official premiere. Unsung is one of the better music docu-shows offered on cable.

— R. Thomas Umstead