Over the past 5 years or so, USA has churned out some pretty impressive new shows. Some we’ve expressed interest in previously, like Psych and Monk, and some that keep growing on us with every action-packed season, like Burn Notice.

We recently got the chance to sit in on a conversation with the series creator and show runner Matt Nix so he could finally answer some of the burning (no pun intended) questions that we’ve had about the series since the get-go. Matt also discussed the current season’s impressive upcoming episodes and guest stars.

The first episode of the fourth season aired last week on USA to record ratings. The episode pulled in 6.6 million viewers, which is nearly a fourth more than last season’s premier brought in.

Check out what Matt had to say about the show, its growing success, and things we can expect to see in this season of Burn Notice.

What can you tell us about this upcoming season and how it will effect Michael (Jeffrey Donovan)?

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Last month’s television show finales like LOST, 24 and Chuck more were packed with emotional endings and incredible cliffhangers. But while there might not be many new TV shows on the horizon for June, it’s always nice to get a bunch of shows returning that you’ve been looking forward to.

The HBO Bunch

Summer is when HBO shines. This month we have returning True Blood, Hung, and Entourage, three of the network’s biggest shows of the entire year.

Last fall, True Blood ended with a cliffhanger, as the second Sookie agreed to marry Bill he completely disappeared. This season, things are sure to heat up between Sook and Eric in Bill’s absence, and with the arrival of werewolves Sookie’s loyalty is bound to be tested. True Blood returns Sunday June 14th at 10 PM.

The first season of Hung was absolutely amazing, and the show is no less relevant with America’s economy still in turmoil and in need of a few good laughs. Hung returns to HBO on June 27th.

Entourage is returning this summer for its seventh season, which will revolve around Vince’s new role in an apocalyptic drama. Expect to see some interesting guest stars including John Stamos, Bob Saget and Jessica Simpson. Vince and the rest of the gang also return to your TV on June 27th.

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Burn Notice is one of those shows that sorta sneaks up on you, much like its covert, ex-spy characters. At first, it seems like a pure action show where men are men and stuff blows up. But then, you go deeper and it turns out to be an intelligent, fun show that not only features action and explosions but actual characters and stories you care about a well.

Obviously, USA feels they’ve got something special too because they’ve given the show an additional two seasons. The news broke late yesterday via a USA’s exec’s Twitter account, which is where all the best news is coming out these days. Just in case you’re not familiar with the show, it concerns “burned” spy Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) who’s former employers drop him in Miami penniless and with no work resources after they decide he’s no longer useful.

Once there he teams up with friends Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) and Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) to find out who burned him and also do a little PI work on the side. He also occasionally has to deal with his mother (Sharon Gless), who also happens to live in Miami too.

It’s a fun show with some great actors and is definitely worth a look if you’ve never watched it before. And now, with USA giving it two more seasons, you’ll have a chance to do just that.

Burn Notice returns Thursday, June 3 at 9/9C on USA.

We told you a bit about USA’s new Covert Affairs recently when the network announced its upcoming premiere dates for new and returning programs. However, at the time we didn’t have much to go on about the show except a very brief description and a list of some of the cast.

Now, thanks to the folks at USA, we can bring you a new teaser for the show that actually gives a lot more clues as to what its about and features star Piper Perabo doing some pretty convincing action scenes. But before you watch the teaser and see her in action, here’s what USA says about the show’s plot. Yes, plot is important too.

New jobs are tough- especially when your new employer is the CIA. Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is fluent in six languages, has traveled all over the world and is besting her fellow CIA trainees in every test, but that doesn’t explain why she’s suddenly summoned by CIA headquarters to report for active duty as a field operative a month before her training is over.

What she doesn’t know is there may be something-or someone-from her past that her CIA bosses are really after. With the help of Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham), a tech ops expert who was blinded while on assignment and is Annie’s unofficial guide to this inscrutable world filled with intrigue, danger, and bureaucratic red tape, this quick study won’t be kept in the dark for long.

Check out the trailer for the show after the jump. Covert Affairs, which stars Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham (Jake 2.0), Peter Gallagher (The O.C.), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) and Anne Dudek (House), premieres on USA in July.

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Now that the traditional TV season of starting shows in the Fall and then having to watch reruns all Summer is pretty much gone for good, networks are debuting new shows and bringin back old ones pretty much anytime of the year. Case in point is USA Networks announcement of new and returning shows debuting this Summer.

Among the shows debuting or returning to the newtok over the next fews months are the brand new Covert Affairs featuring Piper Perabo, Christopher Goram and Heroes alum Sendhil Ramamurthy. Returining shows include Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Royal Pains, In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, White Collar and Psych.

For a full description of the shows and their respective return or premiere dates, check out all the info from this official USA press release:

MARCH

LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT (RETURNING SERIES)
Season nine of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT gets underway March 30th as we say goodbye to old friends and welcome new faces to the Major Case Squad. LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT stars Emmy nominee Jeff Goldblum as Detective Zach Nichols and SAG nominee Saffron Burrows (“Boston Legal,” “Troy”) as Detective Serena Stevens. Burrows plays a highly educated, worldly single parent with a broad range of life experiences to draw upon in solving even the toughest of cases. Teamed with Detective Zach Nichols, they create a partnership of challenging intellect and street-smart savvy. Dick Wolf’s third installment in the “Law & Order” franchise follows the Major Case Squad as it investigates high profile crimes.

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Tonight marks a pretty big night for fans of the USA Network series Psych as it finishes off another successful season. Ending the fourth season will be quite a big episode, as 80′s star Ally Sheedy reprises her role as the serial killer Mr. Yang in “Mr. Yin Presents.” The episode will also stand as a send up to many classic Alfred Hitchcock films in a half-spoof half-homage episode.

We were lucky enough to talk to star James Roday and Sheedy about the episode, and they were able to give us some insight on what we can look forward to seeing. Be sure to catch the season 4 finale on USA at 10 PM EST.

Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references.  James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?

Roday: You know, I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly.  It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan.  As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do. 

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For the first time in nearly nine years, WWE’s Monday Night Raw went head to head with opposing wrestling programming. TNA, who’s normal timeslot runs on Thursday night from 9 to 11, has made the jump to Monday nights in hopes of going head to head with Monday Night Raw much like WCW Nitro did for the first time back on September 4th, 1995. This rivalry lead to some of the greatest programming in wrestling history in the eyes of its fans.

TNA Impact’s first weekly Monday night episode drew a 0.98 cable rating and drew 1.4 million viewers. This rating was down 12% and it’s viewership down 6.1% compared to the preview week’s Thursday edition of Impact. Surprisingly headlined by some of the very same performers from Nitro like Sting, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, it is likely that TNA and Spike TV officials were not thrilled with only a 1.0 rating.

On the other hand, WWE’s Monday Night Raw counted in a 3.4 cable rating and 5.1 million viewers based on the overnight reporting. Raw saw a 7.4% drop in ratings and a 4.2% drop in viewership showing that TNA’s move may have affected Vince McMahon and USA Network’s Monday night programming staple.

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Are you a big fan of USA’s Psych, starring James Roday and Dulé Hill? Then you’re going to want to hop on over to our Twitter all day tomorrow as we host another Twitter Contest for an awesome prize pack to coincide with Wednesday night’s Psych season finale.

From USA:

Don’t miss the most shocking PSYCH finale ever as a killer targets Shawn using scenarios from classic Hitchcock films. Ally Sheedy guest-stars in Psych’s season finale, directed by James Roday — “Mr. Yin Presents” — premiering Wednesday at 10/9C!

Enter to win a Psych Prize Bag filled with:
–        Psych Season 3 DVD Set
–        Psych Talking Bobbleheads
–        Psych Book: Call of the Mild
–        Psych Pineapple T-Shirt
–        Psych Pineapple Stress Toy

Be sure to check our Twitter Feed all day tomorrow to see the Psych trivia question that will give you a chance to win! Also, don’t forget to catch the season 4 finale of Psych, this Wednesday at 10pm EST!! Good Luck!

Over the past 8 years, Monk has been a front runner for the USA network, earning handfuls of accolades and awards from the Emmys to the Golden Globes. We recently got a chance to sit down with the man behind the neurotic protagonist, Tony Shalhoub, about the finale, his life after Monk, and his eclectic film career.

The Flickcast: What can you tell me about the upcoming series finale?

Tony Shalhoub: Well, I can’t tell you much, because I wouldn’t want to give it away. What I can tell you is that unlike many of our other episodes, this two-parter goes to a really dark place for this character. The show turns into much more of a Drama than a Dramedy.

We know that Monk is sick, and he just goes right to the edge. He realizes he’s going to die, so he becomes fearless in a way. The end is near for him anyway, so he becomes hellbent on his revenge.

TFC: Would you say you were satisfied with how the show ended as a whole?

TS: Absolutely. The finale exceeded my expectations. It really fell like everybody was firing on all cylinders here. The writers really came through for us. Randy Zisk, who’s our director, show-runner, and co-executive producer, directed the episodes, and it’s really his best work. We all loved the script on the page, and it really helps when bringing those words to life.

TFC: 125 episodes of Monk under your belt. Where do you go from here?

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Anyone who has tuned in to the USA cable network over the past few years cannot avoid noticing that their focus has been on characters. Whether the eccentric star of Monk or the artist who created the “Hope” Obama design, every level of character has been put in an ad campaign for the network. Now, USA has launched their own gaming site with USA Character Arcade that lets players create their own characters by playing through a varied collection of USA themed flash games, earning points and trophies along the way.

Like most Flash based gaming sites, many of USA Character Arcade’s games are fast pick up and play action and puzzle games. Some are simple reskinned versions of other games like the Where’s Waldo-esque Where’s Bunny? in which a player must find a hidden rabbit throughout various snapshots of NYC. Others take a simple formula like that of Kitty Cannon and add a whole new level of strategy to it like Psych Food Fight . Instead of merely picking an angle and power level, a player now decides which item they’d like to chuck at the opposing side of the lunch room, each with a different level of bounce, as they try bounce their food all the way to their best friend’s face.

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Among its many virtues (and believe me, there were many) Battlestar Galactica had a terrific bunch of actors in it. Because of their high quality, its should really be no surprise that many of them, including Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer to name a few, have gone on to do more work in TV and look to have long careers ahead of them. To that list we can add one more name: Michael Trucco.

Trucco, along with How I Met Your Mother co-star Virginia Williams, are set to star opposite Sarah Shahi (last seen on of one of my favorite recent shows Life) in the upcoming USA drama pilot Facing Kate. The show, in case you’re not familiar, concerns a divorced San Francisco woman (Shahi) who leaves her job as a lawyer to become a mediator following the death of her father, who headed a law firm.

Trucco will play Kate’s ex-husband, who’s also an attorney, a charmer, and who, surprise surprise, still has feelings for her. Williams will play Kate’s “obsessive and controlling younger stepmother who is determined to keep her husband’s firm.” Could be interesting. And really, who doesn’t want to see Anders in more shows? I know I do. He’s cool.