USA Network’s Thursday-night lineup of Burn Notice and Royal Pains is about to leave the summer behind on August 26 when each show presents its summer finale. Don’t worry, be happy, though, because both series will return later with the remaining six episodes in their respective 18-episode current seasons.

Burn Notice is up first at 9pm ET with “Guilty As Charged.” While Michael helps a lawyer locate his daughter after a client abducts her, Fiona searches for Jesse to set up a meeting between him and Michael.

The midseason finale features returning guest star Robert Patrick (The Unit, The X-Files) from the previous episode, and appearances by Cold Case vet Danny Pino and Michael Rooker of the upcoming AMC zombie series The Walking Dead. Season-long recurring actor Robert Wisdom (Happy Town, The Wire) is back, too, as the mysterious Vaughn.

Royal Pains follows at 10pm with the creatively titled “Open Up Your Yenta Mouth and Say Ah.” While Hank deals with his latest client, who skips out on him before he can even begin treatment, Divya copes with her unexpectedly strong feelings after Adam becomes sick.

Continue below to sneak three long-ish peeks at the last new Burn Notice episode of the summer and a quick peek at the season’s last new Royal Pains installment.

Does USA Network spy saga Burn Notice have a great new episode coming up tonight, July 22, or what? Not only does “Past and Future Tense” feature acting legend Burt Reynolds in a major guest role, but Spin City and Mad About You vet Richard Kind drops by for the ride, too.

Reynolds plays Paul Anderson, a weary former CIA agent who becomes Team Michael’s latest client when Russian operatives start targeting him.

USA Network is still totally feeling the sneak peeks — thank goodness — so enjoy three clips from “Past and Future Tense” below. Reynolds appears in the third preview video, and the episode premieres at 9pm ET.

FYI: A fresh installment of medical dramedy Royal Pains called “Comfort’s Overrated” follows Burn Notice at 10pm.

Basic cable’s USA Network presents the season premieres of hit original series Burn Notice and Royal Pains on June 3 at 9pm and 10pm ET, respectively.

The fourth season of Burn Notice opens with “Friends and Enemies.” When Michael isn’t busy trying to prevent terrorism on home soil, he assists Fiona and Sam in their attempts to keep a nasty biker gang from having its way with a lawyer.

Next, Royal Pains‘ sophomore season kicks off with “Spasticity,” featuring esteemed Academy Award winner and two-time Emmy nominee Marcia Gay Harden (Damages, Pollock) in a recurring role as Dr. Elizabeth Blair.

While Hank and Divya cope with a client whose biggest problem is his dangerous desire to break ties with his famous father, Jill deals with the possibility of losing her job due to her mentor’s determination to get her fired. Harsh!

Preview what’s coming up on both episodes in the clips below. The series have a total of 16 installments each in their respective new seasons.

Just when you thought one of television’s hottest shows couldn’t get any hotter, the casting folks go and hire one of TV’s hottest actors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, talented The Game and Third Watch alum Coby Bell has landed a regular role on USA Network’s deservedly popular action dramedy Burn Notice.

Bell will play one Jesse Garcia, a counterintelligence expert with plenty of attitude to spare and a knack for posing as different people, sort of like the show’s main character Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan). Also in step with Michael is Jesse’s love of bringing bad guys down, not to mention an equally complicated past that resulted in him being burned by persons unknown, Michael-style.

Burn Notice ended its third season last week on March 4, so the recent fantastic casting development goes into effect when the series launches its fourth season this summer.

I’ve loved watching Bell on the small screen during his stretches on Third Watch and The Game, two shows that were both canceled prematurely by their respective networks. Good for him that he’s now appearing on a series that has a strong fan base and lots of support from its home network. Can’t wait for Burn Notice‘s Bell era to begin.

How’s this for a good match-up? USA Network announced today, July 31, that Burn Notice‘s August 6 third-midseason finale will feature an extended sneak peek at Quentin Tarantino‘s latest flick Inglourious Basterds.

The highly anticipated movie starring Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Kruger, and Mike Myers — just to name a few — will hit theaters nationwide on Friday, August 21. For those who don’t know, the film follows The Basterds, a group of Jewish-American soldiers stationed in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, who are put on a mission to slaughter Nazis and scare the frak out of the Third Reich. Cool.

As for Burn Notice, the Season Three summer finale “Long Way Back” pits Team Michael against a mysterious dude from Fiona’s past named Thomas O’Neill. The bad guy is played by most-excellent English actor Paul Blackthorne (Lipstick Jungle, Big Shots, The Dresden Files, 24), pictured above with Gabrielle Anwar‘s Fiona in a seriously bad situation.

When O’Neill arrives in Miami out of the blue with deadly misdeeds on his mind, Michael works with Fiona’s equally kick-ass brother to bring him down and save Fiona. Check out the episode and the special Inglourious Basterds preview next Thursday, August 6, from 9pm to 10pm ET.

We knew it was coming sooner or later, and now it has. USA Network just announced its wise decision to pick up both Burn Notice and Royal Pains for additional 16-episode seasons following mighty impressive ratings during the shows’ respective current seasons. Burn Notice is on run number three, while Royal Pains premiered in June 2009.

Says USA Network executive Jeff Wachtel: “We are thrilled to bring Royal Pains back for a new season. The show’s stellar success has earned its prominent residency at USA, where viewers expect high quality programming and smart, character-driven storytelling.”

Moreover, “Burn Notice is simply one of the hottest shows in all of television. It continues to excite us with the exceptional writing, acting and direction that has set the TV landscape on fire.”

According to the press release, Burn Notice is the #1 scripted series of 2009 on cable television in the 18–49 and 25–54 age groups, while Royal Pains is the #1 new original series on cable in 2009. Couldn’t have happened to two more deserving shows.

Since NYPD Blue alum Nicholas Turturro (pictured at right above) is set to guest star on tonight’s new episode of Burn Notice as a character named Tommy, it’s safe to assume more good times are ahead for fans of summer’s hottest show.

During “Fearless Leader,” Michael tries to evade the persistent scrutiny of Detective Paxson (Moon Bloodgood) and her cop colleagues by associating with a criminal so bad he’s among Miami’s most wanted crooks, and I’d bet money the guy is the previously mentioned Tommy.

Michael’s not the only one with problems this time around, however, because Sam also encounters an Internal Revenue Service agent who just happens to be a former girlfriend’s child. I wonder if the dude is thinking an audit is appropriate punishment for some sin Sam committed against his mother long ago. Sounds like pretty effective torture to me.

And while we’re on the subject of pain, check out the following episode stills for “Fearless Leader,” which immediately got my fashion sense all up in arms. Gabrielle Anwar‘s Fiona Glenanne is obviously a “Fashion Oh Yes!” Although you can’t see in the photo below, the outfit is actually a cute and very adult romper-style shorts get-up. She looks fabulous.

Then we have Bloodgood’s Detective Paxson, another “Fashion Oh Yes!” I’m especially partial to the waistband accessories, particularly the larger one right under her hand.

Finally, Jeffrey Donovan‘s poor Michael Westen, an indisputable “Fashion Yikes!” or “Fashion Oh No He Didn’t!” Sadly, I know exactly the look they’re going for here since I’ve seen it too many times before. Let’s all just hope the duds — pun very much intended — are for undercover work and are not an extremely regrettable new wardrobe direction.

The fashion show is over, so check out a sneak peek and the promo for the latest episode of Burn Notice now. The first video needs only a three-word description: Fiona in action. It doesn’t get much better than that.

All of the characters on USA Network’s Burn Notice are cool, of course, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen one of them. That’s about to change, though, because on tonight’s new episode “End Run,” Michael’s brother Nate (Seth Peterson, Providence) finally returns for more action, which means the typical dangerous situations he gets into whenever the Westen siblings are in town at the same time.

The bad luck isn’t Nate’s fault this time, however. He’s kidnapped by weapons trader Brennen (The Shield‘s Jay Karnes, pictured above), whom we first met at the end of last season during the episode “Sins of Omission.” So, in order to save Nate — again — Michael must help Brennan steal some stuff while he’s also dealing with Moon Bloodgood‘s persistent Detective Paxson.

Poor, Michael. Dude never gets a break.

Catch Burn Notice tonight (June 18) at 9pm ET, and check out a sneak peek and promo for “End Run” below. The preview clip features nasty Brennen and the rest of Team Michael save Fiona.

Burn Notice is off to a rip-roaring good start after last week’s Season Three premiere, and now the hot/hit/hip (take your pick or all of the above) show welcomes Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation, Journeyman, Day Break) to the fold, if only for a a plotline that extends across several episodes.

Tonight’s (June 11) “Question and Answer” introduces Bloodgood’s character Detective Paxson, a new opponent for Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) after she picks up his scent while investigating the explosives Michael has been trying to hide (guess that didn’t go too well) in a storage facility. Paxson’s ability to locate the weapons forces Team Michael to hurry up and attempt to move them somewhere else (hopefully better concealed) before the lady detective obtains a warrant to search their current location.

And while all that drama is going on, the team also prepares to rescue a young hostage by using a tricky (what else?) procedure called reverse interrogation. Sounds fun!

Check out USA Network’s Burn Notice on Thursdays in its new one-hour earlier time slot of 9pm ET. A promo and sneak peek at the latest episode follows, the second featuring a scene with newcomer Bloodgood, which describes her as Michael’s Worst Nightmare. Uh-oh.

Heads-Up: If you’re a fan of USA Network’s ultra entertaining spy saga Burn Notice, there are a lot of answers waiting for you tonight on the second-season finale “Lesser Evil“, although maybe not so much closure. The last is entirely a good thing, though, because that means more to look forward to in Season Three.

If I had to sum up the episode quickly in a few phrases, the typical genre clichés high octane, high energy, and high drama all come immediately to mind. Besides a car chase that lasts so long it’s split into two car chases — just to give viewers a chance to breathe, I suspect — there are numerous explosions, a truckload of bullets, and plenty of deception and maneuvering to spare.

In the process, some characters get what they want, get what they deserve, and even get what they weren’t expecting. Surprising secrets are learned, startling alliances are formed, and Michael finally meets the person who burned him … face to face, yet another occasion when the word “high” applies (that will make sense when you watch).

We also get more than one scene worthy of the Matt Damon Bourne franchise, as well as a new major character played by a very familiar and welcome industry standout. After watching the episode, all I could think was “Thank goodness the third season kicks off this summer instead of the fall or next year.” I honestly don’t believe I could wait that long to find out what happens to Team Michael next.

Catch Burn Notice‘s thoroughly satisfying second-season finale “Lesser Evil” on USA Network at 10pm EST tonight. You’ll be very, very happy you did.