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'Cagney & Lacey' reunite on 'Burn Notice'

By Curt Wagner
ChicagoNow.com – 01/22/10

When Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly reunite on Thursday's all new "Burn Notice," you'll think "Cagney & Lacey" ended its run months--not more than 25 years--ago. "We play very easy together," Daly told reporters during a recent conference call. "We have a good time."

Daly guest stars as the USA series returns at 9 p.m. Thursday for its mid-season premiere, playing a bank employee whom Gless' Madeline Westen cultivates as an intelligence asset for her burned spy son, Michael (Jeffrey Donovan).

But, as is always the case with the battling mom and son, Madeline doesn't do exactly what Michael says. That opens the door to several wonderful scenes between the old friend and marvelous actresses.

"It's kind of like bicycle riding," Daly said. "We just fall into a rhythm and it was nice and easy ... We had only what three or four scenes but it felt like a very great tennis match."

Gless, who also shares another marvelous, tense, heart-breaking scene with Donovan, said she'd been trying to get Daly on the show for a long time. But it was always a matter of timing, and what part creator Matt Nix and his writing team could create for Daly. When they found the part, Gless made the call.

"She said there was a part. She said it wasn't big enough. She said come anyway," Daly said. "And I said 'Yeah.'"

Then the fun began, according to Gless, who said the mood on the set changed when the two actresses were together.

"When we were in the makeup trailer and we're sitting just chatting and laughing before we begin," she said. "That isn't the tone of our makeup trailer, so everybody was going, 'Boy I wish that we did that more.'

"They were all very excited that she was on the show."