Jeffrey Donovan, This Is Getting Ridiculous

Over our family vacation – we were all joking about how Jeff Donovan and promotions of Burn Notice were everywhere. Commercials on television, ads in magazines … Jeff Jeff Jeff Jeff Jeff. You could not (and cannot) escape. People would open up the NY Times to do the crossword and see Jeff’s huge mug staring back at them. Or you’d have the paper opened up, and across the back – a double spread – JEFF!! It became a joke. “Uhm, not sure if you’re noticed, but Jeff Donovan is freakin’ everywhere right now.”

Jeff is my brother’s friend – kind of an honorary O’Malley – I’ve known him for years. He’s fun, funny, and loyal. He’s beloved by his huge rowdy group of buddies, all of whom have been tight-knit and close for years. And he is really nice to Cashel (who even got to go to one of the screenings of Jeff’s films – AND got to ask a question at the QA after the screening!) . So you know what? Being nice to Cashel is all I need to know about a person, as far as I’m concerned. I met Jeff right after Blair Witch 2 came out – which, naturally, did NOT go over as well as he had hoped – although he had a pretty humorous attitude about it – so now, to see him hit it huge with Burn Notice is damn cool.

Last year, you could kind of feel it coming … I’d be walking down the street and see something like this go by and I’d think: Uhm …okay … that was Jeff going by, for God’s sake … I think this is gonna be huge …

Burn Notice was picked up again for Season 2. Posters have started appearing everywhere – even more intensely since it’s now a returning hit – so the subway stations are filled with Jeff, and I see Jeff float by on the sides of busses on a daily basis. One morning I got into an elevator at 30 Rock and nearly had a heart attack because Jeff’s enormous face was all over the interior elevator walls – larger than life – a promotion for the show in every single elevator at 30 Rock.

And today I go to my traffic Sitemeter for my blog.

This is what I see.


jeffdonovan.jpg

Jeff. You are now omnipresent.

Congrats.

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44 Responses to Jeffrey Donovan, This Is Getting Ridiculous

  1. Jeff says:

    Very cool that you know him, Sheila. I’m glad to hear that he’s a good guy. We fell in love with that show last summer – you can just tell that the cast is having a blast making it.

  2. red says:

    I know – what a hoot, right?? Hope Season 2 is just as fun!

  3. Jeff says:

    The season premiere was good – so it looks like they’re still on track.

    It’s funny – we were talking about Donovan after the show, and we ended up looking up his page on IMDB because we wanted to find out everything he’d been in. Sort of a “why did it take this guy so long to become a star?” kind of thing.

  4. brendan says:

    in LA he is seriously 80 feet tall.

  5. Cullen says:

    How appropriate that he should be an honorary O’Malley. I love this show. It has enough subject matter that’s relevant to people I know IRL and it has Bruce Campbell. I mean, come on. Bruce freakin’ Campbell.

    As for Donovan, I had him confused with Guy Pearce from Memento most of the first season (I think because they both have that stoic thing going on, at least Pearce did in Memento). Love him in this show. Everything clicks so well.

  6. red says:

    You’re right – he does have a Guy Pearce thing going on!

  7. red says:

    Bren – ha!! Go, Jeff!

  8. Lisa says:

    Oh.

    My.

    FECKING.

    god.

    I have loved this show since Day One. I canNOT believe you *know* him. WTF? I’m speechless.

    goddamn.

  9. Tainted Bill says:

    I just got into Burn Notice a couple of weeks ago, and I absolutely love the show. It’s smart, funny, and possibly the first series featuring Bruce Campbell to get a second season.

    There are posters for the show all over the trains on NJ Transit, and everyday I have two thoughts: “Gabrielle Anwar is hot” and “I wish I looked like that when wearing a suit”.

  10. Rose says:

    He *IS* everywhere lately, it has to be so weird to see someone you know like that. My husband loves that show, somehow I’m never around when it’s on. It’s good to know he’s a nice guy and having a successful run. I know it shouldn’t make a difference if someone is good at what they do, I just hate finding out someone I admire is an asshat. LOL!

    ps. I just finished Atonement yesterday and damn. I knew from your review it wasn’t going to end well, but still…

  11. Kate P says:

    I think he’s trying to say hi to you, Sheila, because you’re both so busy! It’s a great show. It’s also amusing to me that the male and female leads have the same names as a married couple I know–I thought, what are the odds, at least in the United States?

  12. Carrie says:

    What am I missing? Was his ad on the 117D bus?

  13. red says:

    Carrie – that’s a picture I took of a bus going by with an ad for Burn Notice on it. Is that what you are asking??

  14. Carrie says:

    No, in the sitemeter listings, what am I missing? Which entry is his? The only one I could figure was the one for 117D Bus (9 down)? Or am I blind?

  15. red says:

    Oh! hahahahahahahaha I love that you picked out the 117D bus link – I didn’t even know what you were talking about!

    No – it’s the banner ad over to the right – dude in sunglasses staring at me. That’s him!

  16. Carrie says:

    Oh. My. God. I am SUCH a dolt.

    Here’s me, looking at the search queries trying to figure it out. I was even looking at them vertically to see if the random placement of letters spelled out his name or something.

    Oh, man. LOL. Well as you can see my ad filter works really well.

  17. Carrie says:

    Can you imagine who would be looking up the 117D bus and landing on your site? Jeff Donovan’s face on the 117D Bus, I just saw it yesterday, damn, I gotta find it again, lemme Google….

  18. red says:

    Carrie – That is SO HYSTERICAL. I am guffawing at the thought of you trying to decipher half a line of Sitemeter traffic – looking for clues – ha!!!!

  19. Carrie says:

    Or someone googling the 117D Bus schedule…cause, you know, your blog is full of bus schedules. Not to mention that it is a virtual descriptive edition of bus routes, including the 117D Bus. The way you write about each stop is so vivid.

  20. red says:

    hahahahahahaha I’m dying at your last comment!!

    “I saw this really cool ad of Jeff Donovan on the 117D bus … let me Google it …”

    I’m cackling

  21. red says:

    I am THE go-to person for bus schedules, it is true.

    What on EARTH was that person looking for? Now I have to Google 117D Bus and see what comes up.

    Hold please.

  22. Carrie says:

    Yeah, like what in the world would bring the 117D Bus to your blog?

    If you want to get to Sheila’s blog you just hop on the 117D Bus, it’ll drop ya right there

  23. red says:

    Nothing came up! I am still laughing, though, at the image of you searching, searching, searching for Jeff Donovan in my sitemeter traffic – looking for codes, or half-clues – when there he is staring right at you.

    117D Bus!

  24. Carrie says:

    Sheila, I’m dying here, with a bad case of the giggles. 117D!! Hold the bus!! I’m sorry, Jeff. Really, when I installed AbBlock, maybe I took it a bit too far.

    Sheila, I was seriously looking at all the capital letters, seeing if they spelt anything, looking at them up, down, backwards, diagonal, like your sitemeter snapshot was some sort of blog wordsearch that I just didn’t understand.

    Quite obviously, I so did not understand it.

    Understatement of the year.

  25. red says:

    Carrie’s thought process: Where is this Jeff Donovan Sheila speaks of? I can’t see evidence of him ANYWHERE on this page she shows! Where is he???

    On the 117D bus clearly.

  26. Carrie says:

    Well, of course. He is omnipresent. Of course he is on the 117D Bus. Literally. There’s photos, and now, it’s in your sitemeter logs. See? He’s everywhere.

    Hey Jeff, how did you get to be everywhere? Why, I took the 117D Bus, that’s how!

  27. red says:

    Quite obviously, I so did not understand it.

    hahahahahahahaha

  28. Carrie says:

    If anyone wonders where Jeff Donovan is, hot tip of the day: 117D Bus

    You heard it here first. Yep.

  29. red says:

    I think it should be a new tabloid magazine. “Want me to pick up a new 117D Bus on the way home?” “Yeah, please do – Brangelina just had twins … need to read up on that.”

    Be EVERYWHERE AT ONCE … on the 117D BUS

  30. red says:

    I am guffawing all by myself.

  31. red says:

    Sadly, I have to leave now to go do karaoke with my sister.

    And you KNOW how I’m getting downtown. I don’t think I even need to say my mode of transportation at this point.

  32. Carrie says:

    I think the best part of this is, the 117D Bus doesn’t actually exist….it was a fluke of Google encryption.

    Which makes me even dumber, but hey. Jeff’s in your sitemeter logs, of course he’s on the 117D Bus. It makes total sense. In my world. Admittedly.

    You see, your blog is the kind of place where you have no shame admitting that you parsed sitemeter logs in lieu of actually looking at the damn (full color) picture

    Gee, Sheila, could you spell it out any bigger, please? Us windylickers on the 117D bus can’t see what you’re talking about.

    lol

  33. red says:

    I’m HOWLING. TOO FUNNY!!!!!

    Oh man. Thanks for the laugh … I so needed it!!!

    You: Where the HELL is jeff Donovan?

    Me: Uhm, yeah, see that enormous full-color banner … uhm …

    You: Oh. I was Googling the 117D Bus for clues … sorry ….

  34. just1beth says:

    This is Tom’s new obsession!!!! We had to watch it even on vacation- of course his mom loves it too. I think she is the one who actually got us started on it, now that I think of it. (Don’t tell Tom, but I think that HE thinks that he and Jeff Donovan are kinda friends, much in the way that Mitchell feels that Barbara Streisand would totally recognize HIM if they were to pass each other on a city street…)

  35. Carrie says:

    I bet you’re taking the 117D Bus, aren’t you?

    Have fun. If you see Jeff on it, say hey for me.

  36. Carrie says:

    Sheila, I have tears in my eyes from laughing so much at this. Yes, you have the scenario exactly right. I was getting angry, too. Yelling at the computer. DAMN YOU SHEILA! WHY CAN’T I SEE JEFF DONOVAN!! YOU SAID TO CLICK HERE TO SEE YOUR SITEMETER LOGS AND GODDAMMIT I CAN’T SEE HIM!!!

  37. Carrie says:

    I LOOKED EVERYWHERE, TOO!!!

  38. Carrie says:

    I EVEN LOOKED ON THE 117D BUS!!!!!!

    WHERE IS HE!!!!!

  39. red says:

    Carrie – It’s the next morning and I’m still laughing.

  40. allison says:

    what just happened?

  41. Carrie says:

    It appears you missed the bus. The 117D Bus, to be precise.

    mwhahahaha

  42. red says:

    Missing the 117D Bus is no laughing matter. It only comes round once a day.

    The funny thing is: if anyone ever tries to Google 117D Bus again – they will most DEFINITELY find this ridiculous comment thread now!!

  43. Carrie says:

    A thread which is aptly named I might add.

  44. nightfly says:

    117D bus!!!

    You are all fabulous, and I’m out another keyboard.

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