White Collar

Channel: Ten
Day & time*: Tuesday, 9.30 p.m.
(*as at December 2009)

 

Crim and copper

Those poor cops… they appear to be struggling a bit (at least in TV land) at the moment. They seemingly can’t make a move without interacting with an external consultant of some kind. Now, those consultants can be former psychics (The Mentalist), body language experts (Lie to Me) or even novelists (Castle) but White Collar takes things to new heights by having a criminal as the consultant.

Then again, perhaps it’s not that far-fetched after all. You might recall from the ending of the movie Catch Me If You Can, that the subject of that project, con man Frank Abagnale, is now a private security consultant who often works with the FBI. So the idea of a crook, albeit a ‘white collar’ one as the title suggests, working with the cops is a feasible one.

The crook in question here is Neal Caffrey (played by Matthew Bomer). In the pilot, he’s been in the slammer for a while, but manages to pull off an audacious escape, only to be caught again by the man who put him away in the first place, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay). It seems Caffrey has flown the coop because his girlfriend has dumped him and disappeared, and he’s anxious to locate her. Burke however has bigger fish to fry than to worry about Caffrey’s love life. His white-collar crime unit is searching for a forger known only as ‘the Dutchman’ – an allusion to the Flying Dutchman because whenever the FBI get close, he seems to melt away. Caffrey, keen not to remain behind bars, offers Burke his help in catching the Dutchman. Fitted with a sophisticated tracking device Caffrey is allowed out – and promptly manages to inveigle his way into a swanky NY townhouse – but his help soon proves to be invaluable in tracking the elusive Dutchman.

As you might have gathered, there’s more to Caffrey’s break-out than meets the eye; and there’s similarly more to this series. This is a nice break from those oh-so-serious cop shows of the CSI/Criminal Minds ilk. It’s funny, breezy and even has a touch of warmth thrown in for good measure.

The chemistry between the always-on-the-clock Burke and the raffish Caffrey is excellent, and the plot is intriguing. The scenarios for the early episodes are more than sufficient to suck you in, and it’s actually very easy to find yourself smiling as you watch the show. An added bonus is that, with its focus on so-called white collar crime, there’s very little violence to speak of, which is also a refreshing change for a cop show.

The acting is more than acceptable for this type of show, with the photogenic Bomer making the most of his opportunity in the lead role as Caffrey. I’m sure just a flash of his pearly whites will be melting hearts all around the country. DeKay basically has to play the straight man to Bomer’s charmer. He gives Burke a kind of worn-down charm, without making the character depressing. There’s also solid support from Tiffani Thiessen (yes, once of 90210 fame) as Burke’s wife and Willie Garson (Stanford from Sex and the City) as Mozzie, Caffrey’s associate on the outside.

Coming into the usually-dire summer television season, White Collar provides at least a glimmer of hope for something decent on the box. This isn’t groundbreaking television, but it’s a zingy little buddy-comedy that offers at least the opportunity to enjoy some light and engaging TV as the silly season sets in.

Phil James