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Take the effortless style of Burn Notice, the roguish charm of The Mentalist and the opulence of Royal Pains and you've got White Collar. You've also got the recipe for a hit, which makes you wonder how long USA has been in the kitchen working on this one. In many ways, the network's newest series is your standard crime procedural, but it does it with panache -- it's the classier version of a procedural, if you will, with classier crimes and at least one classier character. Matthew Bomer -- who played Bryce Larkin on Chuck -- stars as a con artist Neal Caffrey, a multitalented grifter, con and forger who's never been caught, but is serving time for a lesser offense when he suddenly decides he needs to get out. Peter Burke (Carnivale's Tim DeKay) is the cop who knows him best, who's brought back in to catch him and ends up enlisting his former quarry in his efforts to snare The Dutchman, the master criminal who's taken Caffrey's place at the top of Burke's hit list.
So what you've got is an odd-couple buddy cop show, with a smart cop bound by rules and a possibly even smarter crook who thinks outside the box, and they're looking into white-collar crimes, which here means anything involving the upper crust. The first episode has them pursuing a forger -- played by the ever-wonderful Mark Sheppard -- trying to replicate a valuable bond, but the next episode concerns a murder that may be connected to information smuggling. It's not a clearly defined mandate, but you can rest assured that you'll be mingling with the upper crust of New York City. (By proxy, anyway.) The supporting cast is upper-crust as well: Caffrey's friend and information source Mozzie is played by Willie Garson of Sex and the City fame, and Burke's wife is played by Tiffani Thiessen, formerly of 90210. It's like they were thinking of their target audience when they assembled every inch of this show, from the story elements down to their cast's resumés. Suddenly, the promotion USA has been doing in Rockefeller Plaza this week -- free fitted shirts made to your measurements -- makes a whole lot more sense. ...Well, that and the whole "white collar" thing.
What did you think of White Collar? Unbutton your lips below.
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I was really impressed with this pilot. I think it'll be in the same league as Burn Notice in terms of fun, character-driven entertainment.
I've got it dvr-ed, looking forward to it. Although I will miss Byrce Larkin on Chuck.
Pilots are often not enjoyable, but I loved this from the start.
It was well done. A little too much smiling, but overall fun to watch.
Isn't this what all the networks do these days? Start with basic procedural, add some and some , presto - hit. And then spin-off or repeat until schedule is full.
I'll watch because I'm a TV whore with too much time on my hands, but it wasn't any more than okay.
Ah, Matthew Bomer. He was on Traveler.
The fact that so many people may read the above and think "What's Traveler?" possibly indicates why the show didn't stick around.
Oh come on, I loved Traveler! But mainly for the Will Traveler character who I thought was kinda awesome. I loved Matthew Bomer more on Chuck as Bryce Larkin.
See, I have never seen an episode of Chuck, but saw the commercial and went AAAH IT'S THE GUY FROM TRAVELER! :-D Loved the premiere, but I really enjoy the whole "USA Show" genre that they've created-- Monk, Psych, Royal Pains, etc. More Matthew Bomer is always a good thing!
This show left me with a smile on my lips and a "This is going to be a good show!" toast to the TV. I just wish TWOP was recapping it.
I didn't like it. The dialogue was bad and most of the acting was so-so. Cliches abounded. Of course, that's typical of USA's '70s-ish shows.
I had the whole "OMG it's the guy from Traveler!" moment when I saw the Chuck pilot. Now, the only name coming front and center is Bryce Larkin. It's obvious this guy is supposed to be the star of a show and White Collar seems like a perfect fit.
I didn't even know this show existed until my little sister told me and she's 13. We watched it together and really enjoyed it! I love Matthew Bomer (not really on Traveler, he was quite annoying) especially in Chuck! I will miss Bryce, but this show is great. I loved when he moved into that big mansion and the quips about the coffee. I love USA's line up so far.
I thought this pilot was terrible. I love most of the USA shows, but this one had awful dialogue, even worse acting, and a nonsensical plot. Agree that cliche abounded--just seemed super lazy. I was very disappointed.
This show is FUN. I love the fresh spin on the detective show, and I loves me a good bromance. Matthew Bomer is gorgeous, and perfect as a charming con man. He and DeKay have amazing chemistry. TWOP, please review this one!
I actually loved this pilot, and I rarely love pilots. I only just caught it on Australian tv, but I'm definately a regular viewer now.
I loved the pilot and was looking forward to it since the ads over the summer. i also loved all the past 7 episodes and cant wait until jan 19 WC new night. love matt bomer and tim dekay.