Created by Jeff Eastin
Starring: Tim DeKay, Alexandra Daddario, Noah Emmerich, Matt Bomer, Willie Garson
“To solve the toughest crimes, hire the smartest criminal”. Does that tagline for this USA Channel show intrigue you? It did me. So, what did I think about the first season of White Collar?
The Series
Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) is a con-man, forger and thief. The series begins as Neal is captured after a three-year game of cat and mouse with the FBI. With four months left while serving a four-year sentence, he escapes from a maximum-security federal prison to find Kate (Alexandra Daddario), his ex-girlfriend. Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), the FBI agent who initially captured Caffrey, finds him at a dead end in his search and returns Caffrey to prison.
This time, Caffrey gives Burke information about evidence in another case; however, this information isn’t free, of course: it comes with a price: Burke must have a meeting with Caffrey. At this meeting, Caffrey proposes a deal: he will help Burke catch other criminals as part of a work-release program. Burke hesitantly agrees. Through the successful apprehending of several white-collar criminals, Caffrey has proven to Burke that he will help him, and that he will not try to escape again. This begins an unconventional partnership and is the basis for this USA Channel original series.
Got all that?
The episodes included in this release are Pilot, Threads, Book of Hours, Flip of the Coin, The Portrait, All In, Free Fall, Hard Sell, Bad Judgment, Vital Signs, Home Invasion, Bottlenecked, Front Man and Out of the Box.
While White Collar is far from hard edged or gritty, each episode not only offers up investigations of all types, including murder, but exciting car chases, escapes and plenty of gun play. Caffrey and Burke mostly track down smugglers, thieves, forgers and other unsavory types.
The chemistry between the character of Caffrey and Burke provides a lot of laughs and the uneasy friendship that develops provides ample opportunity for not only laughs but a bit of drama as well cons
I should also mention that the series has a great villain in the character of Agent Garrett Fowler (Noah Emmerich). Emmerich does a great job of keeping the exact goal of this character nice and mysterious.
While the characters of Caffery’s girlfriend, played by Alexandra Daddario and Burke’s wife Elizabeth, played by Tiffani Thiessen (yes, the girl from Saved by the Bell), aren’t main characters, these actresses provided some nice relief from all of the action and intrigue.
While White Collar is far from being described as a gritty as Southland, The Wire or Homicide, if you are looking for a entertaining cop show with not only action, but a few laughs and a bit of drama, this is the show for you.
Hey, after a hard day at work, you don’t always want something too dense and White Collar fills that spot.
7/10
The Video
White Collar: the Complete First Season is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1080 p video. The overall transfer is respectable with vibrant colors and rich black levels. The level of detail is impressive and I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts.
8/10
The Audio
White Collar: the Complete First Season is presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is crystal clear and well balanced. The music score is mixed well with the ambient sounds and dialogue.
7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
White Collar: the Complete First Season is presented in a standard multi disc blu ray amaray case with understated cover artwork.
There are some nice bonus features to explore on this release. There are audio commentaries for 5 episodes on this release. The commentaries are provided by series creator Jeff Eastin, and actors Bomer, DeKay, Garson and Thiessen.
Several featurettes are offered including Pro and Con focusing on the two main characters, A Cool Cat in the Hat features the fashion element of the show and Nothing But the Truth, which profiles Tom Barden, who is a former FBI agent that is a consultant for the show.
A gag reel and deleted scenes wrap up the bonus features offered on this release.
7/10
Overall ( Not an Average) 7/10
The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7//10