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COVER STORY OF THE LA TIMES CALENDAR section:
White Collar duo spark a
hit
USA hits ratings gold with the crime-fighting series
with a twist starring Tim DeKay and Matt Bomer.
By Maria Elena Fernandez
Los Angeles Times -
Talk about using pain as your muse.
Though there are certainly echoes of movies like "Catch Me If You Can,"
"48 Hours" and, especially, "Lethal Weapon" all over USA's new hit, "White
Collar,” one of the series' most distinctive elements wasn't brought
on by a writer's love of a good caper. Rather, it was sparked by creator
Jeff Eastin's divorce.
At the time he was penning his pilot about FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim
DeKay) and convicted con artist Neal Caffrey (Matt
Bomer) who become an unlikely crime-fighting duo, Eastin and his
wife had separated. In the traumatic wake of his personal life, Eastin
soon felt that resident dreamboat Caffrey was a little too perfect. So,
in a move that transformed the cunning criminal into a romantic hero,
Eastin decided that Caffrey's girlfriend would leave him just months
before his prison sentence was set to expire.
"My wife literally had disappeared and that really became the Kate
mythology for the series," Eastin said. "It was something I was going
through and it's nice when you have someone that can pay for your
therapy."
"White Collar" is USA's latest character-based series to become a hit
and to help boost the network into basic cable's top ranks. The network
has been on fire with its series, such as crime thriller "Burn Notice"
and this summer's young-doctor-to-the-rich-and-famous drama "Royal
Pains."
"White Collar," which airs at 10 p.m. Fridays, launched last month with
an impressive 5.4 million total viewers and has averaged 5.3 million
viewers in its three-episode run. (That includes viewers in the first
week who recorded it and watched later. DVR data for the other episodes
are not available yet.)
In the pilot, Neal's heartbreak is pivotal in establishing the odd
couple/cop buddy conceit of the show. When Neal discovers his girlfriend
has abandoned him, he can't ride out the final four months of his
sentence and breaks out of prison only to be apprehended -- again -- by
Burke. Rather than let talent waste away in jail, Burke negotiates a
work-release deal in which Neal helps solve capers in exchange for
limited freedom.
"The relationship that Peter and Neal have is quite complicated," said
DeKay, whose character is happily married. "It's not just a buttoned-up
cop who gets a little frustrated with the cool ex-con artist. It's more
that they do like each other, but there is a trust issue. I don't know
if Peter trusts Neal's romantic impulses. He trusts him but he's afraid
that his heart is going to make him do something he's going to regret."
In the series, Neal, who has a distinct Rat Pack sense of style and
fashion -- and even rents a room in a mansion from a rich widow played
by Diahann Carroll -- has tracked his long-lost Kate to San Diego, but
has yet to find her. The search will drive his character, particularly
in this first season.
"It's what motivates him to comply with the FBI in the first place,"
Bomer said. "His compliance with the FBI is ultimately how to get closer
to her. I think there's a part of Neal that envies and is fascinated by
the white-picket existence that Peter seems to have with his wife. He
doesn't really understand it but he's fascinated by it."
The Manhattan locations certainly are not regularly featured on other
cop shows either. Peter and Neal arrest their suspects in picturesque
locales such as Columbus Circle, Times Square, the Financial District,
Central Park and Rockefeller Center, which adds to the show's romantic,
somewhat nostalgic quality. But as Bomer can attest, New York is still
New York.
"We're shooting in all the places that when I lived in New York, I'd
look at in wonderment," Bomer said. "But the best thing about New
Yorkers is that they keep you grounded. There's always some indignant
New Yorker walking by right when they're ready to call action saying,
"Excuse me, this is my apartment building. I don't care what you're
shooting here.' "
Neal's budding bromance with Peter has been singled out by critics as
the top draw of the series. It's a chemistry that has existed since
their first screen test together, and the two actors say it's only
deepening.
"Within seconds of our reading together, I knew this could be a blast,"
DeKay said. "I do think the show lives in that space between Peter and
Neal and that energy that's between us was prevalent during the
audition. It's interesting because when I read this script, I didn't
even think of it as a cop show. Yeah, I realize Peter has a badge, but I
looked at it as a relationship show."
Eastin said the buddy cop genre is in "my blood" and that he
specifically borrowed from "Lethal Weapon," which has two disparate men
become true partners. "I think Neal is a little more childish in that he
questions the rules. Peter is more the straight deductive guy," Eastin
said. "These are two guys who are always the smartest guys in the room."
5 minutes with the Tim: video by USA Today:
TIM with the cast of White collar on the TODAY SHOW!