To solve the hardest crimes, hire the smartest criminal! USA NETWORK’s new series, White Collar, premieres Friday, October 23, at 10 p.m./9c. White Collar stars Matt Bomer (Chuck, Tru Calling), Tim DeKay (Tell Me You Love Me, Carnivàle), Tiffani Thiessen (What About Brian, Fastlane) and Willie Garson (Sex and the City, John from Cincinnati). White Collar is about the most unlikely of partnerships between a con artist and an FBI agent. The story unfolds after charming criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey (Bomer) is caught by his nemesis, G-Man extraordinaire Peter Burke (DeKay). Rather than returning to jail for this daring getaway, Neal suggests an alternate plan – providing his expertise to assist the Feds in putting away infamous and elusive criminals in return for his freedom.
The show sucked me in immediately; it caters to my current television tastes in every way. Smart criminal who has a good heart, complex love interest, strong surrounding characters - they are all part of the show and had me looking forward to White Collar making it into the regular schedule. I was lucky enough to watch the show a bit early so that we would have time for the review, and that just made the wait until the next new episode even longer for me. Did I tell you the show had one of my favorite actresses? Tiffani Thiessen plays Elizabeth Burke, the wife of the federal agent Peter Burke.
Whoever picked Matt Bomer for Neal Caffrey deserves a gold star; after watching him on Chuck, I really liked his acting, and this role is one that fits him like the old dapper suits he wears. Tim DeKay does a good job as the federal agent in the FBI’s White Collar Crime Unit. His experience with high-profile criminals makes him perfect to use Neal as a tool, plus the fact he was the one to catch Neal the first time. While I would have liked to see Tiffani as the same sort of busting-heads cop as she played on Fastlane, I think that is just me being hung up on the way Fastlane ended. She does a great job as wife of Peter Burke, and she allows the writers the ability to have Peter talk about his job and what is going on. Could turn out to be a bit dull, though, if they do not expand her role after a few episodes. Willie Garson plays Mozzie, Neal’s friend and trusted ally who has connections in the seedy criminal underworld. It’s another great casting job, and his role is so broad that he can easily tie up loose ends to a story, but it did not seemed forced, because the character of Mozzie is so likeable and dynamic. That and the fact that the writers are pretty good at their job from what we get to see in this episode. I would like to see more of Mozzie, though; he is not given a lot of screen time here. The actors all have a good chemistry going so far that looks good on the screen.
The overall mystery of why Neal’s girlfriend leaves him and jumps town will be one of the interesting underlying plots of the series, the other one being his work with the FBI. Neal is not adverse to putting himself in harm’s way to get his point across or the case solved, and that should keep us on the edge of our seat for each episode. It also looks like with the large overall storylines being simplistic in to explain, White Collar will keep itself open to new viewers each week without having to give them a crib sheet. The premier gives us background on the characters and also shows Neal breaking out of prison and then being offered a job with the Feds after the reason for his escape becomes known. The Feds realize that the expertise that Neal possesses may help them out in catching other elusive criminals. The adage that “it takes a criminal to catch a criminal” may just be true in these cases. Except wouldn’t the criminal underground find out that Neal switched sides and put a hit out on him? I am just saying…maybe that will be a future episode. Neal’s ingenuity and luck at moving up his living arrangements was pretty fun; it allows him to keep the high class lifestyle that he was probably accustomed to with his life of crime, plus it makes for some good humor.
White Collar is like a combination of my favorite shows rolled up into one to form this new yet familiar piece of goodness. It has a bit of Prison Break, a little bit of Leverage sprinkled in, then add some Catch Me If you Can (movie) in with its original recipe and you have White Collar. Hopefully the show can continue to live up to the hype that I gave it in this review after one episode of viewing. Best piece of advice I can give you on a Friday night is make sure you watch this show, if you already have plans make sure you DVR it – you will not be upset you gave some precious DVR space to this show.
Remember we have a contest going on for this show; you can check out the details here.
An idiotic show for people with brain disease. I lasted maybe 15 minutes with the pilot.
We are shown the hero walking out of jail using a uniform he ordered over the internet. So, in this special “jail” he gets an unmonitored internet connection (are you kidding?) packages delivered to his cell unopened (you have to be kidding!) and after four years there, no one recognizes his face, or the fact they have never seen his face on a police uniform before? Not even to mention he knows instantly from a fiber on someone’s suit, that it is a security fiber on a new Canadian bill that is top secret, and he knows this (because “Its what I do.”) after being in jail the last four years. Yeah, right.
This is the stupidest opening I have ever seen, and anyone who can let this kind of nonsense slide, should see a brain specialist immediately.
It is a jail for white collar crimes not for murders, at least that is the way I saw it. So they probably have some leeway, plus he could have worked in the prison mailroom or something. Plus that is the reason he grows a beard, none of the inmates are going to rat him out. Sure criminals know a lot inside of jail on what is going on in the criminal world. I might have to had to suspend a little belief, but I still thought the story worked fine.
Oops, Brent. You must have thought you were watching 60 Minutes. Anyone who expects anything approaching reality from a TV drama series is the one with brain disease. What do you do for fun–read ingredients lists on food packages?
Thank you for the informative article on White Collar. I really enjoy this show but I feel that it doesn’t receive enough exposure because it isn’t on network televion. I feel that Matt Bomer (Neal Caffrey) really enhances this show with his amazing acting style. It will be interesting to find out what happens when this season returns with Mozzie. Check out this other great site about the White Collar TV show.