White collar usa, New York will lose one of its most adoring television showcases when USA’s “White Collar” finishes the six-episode run that launches Thursday at 9 p.m.
From the beginning, the light-hearted cop-and-con drama has looked for the best side of the city, showcasing its parks, monuments, museums and classiest streets. You see “White Collar,” you want to come to New York.
The wrapup also means television itself will lose one of its most charming and gently subversive dramas: a cop story that wasn’t about guns, had a great sense of humor and routinely challenged viewers to redefine their notions of where right intersected with wrong.
It made a star of Matt Bomer, who played con man Neal Caffrey, and gave a well-deserved showcase to Tim DeKay, who played his unlikely partner, FBI agent Peter Burke.
The interplay, respect and wary friendship between Neal and Peter formed the center of the show, though it should be noted that both Bomer and DeKay are emphatic in calling “White Collar” a team effort.
“We all approached it as an ensemble show,” says Bomer. “There was such great talent everywhere.”
On camera, that included Willie Garson, who played Neal’s fellow con man Mozzie; Tiffani Thiessen, who played Peter’s wife, Elizabeth; Marsha Thomason as agent Diane Berrigan; Sharif Atkins as agent Clinton Jones; and a long line of recurring guest stars from Diahann Carroll and Andrew McCarthy to Hilarie Burton and Treat Williams.
There was also Peter and Elizabeth’s Labrador retriever, Satchmo, though DeKay has admitted in the past that Satchmo wasn’t always the most professional about doing what he was supposed to when he was supposed to do it.
In any case, the final season will wrap up the story of a partnership that began when Peter busted the brilliant and elusive Neal for an art heist. Peter was smart, too, but the collar came from a lucky break. Distraught over losing his girlfriend, Neal let his guard down.
After Neal was convicted, Peter talked the system into letting Neal serve his sentence by helping Peter solve other white-collar crimes, into which Neal had unique insight.
He also had great connections. Between Neal and Mozzie, almost every white-collar criminal everywhere was an acquaintance.
One of the show’s great ongoing questions, which may or may not be fully resolved in the final episodes, was whether Neal had really left the con world, particularly with Mozzie constantly urging him back into it.
“There was always that thing with Neal where Peter didn’t really know for sure,” says DeKay. “And I think Neal felt the same way about Peter. They became friends, but they didn’t always completely trust each other. That was part of the appeal of the show, the part that was always unresolved.”
In a cavernous warehouse in an industrial part of Queens where “White Collar” was shooting its final scenes, Bomer and DeKay acknowledged that the question of where the show should leave this intriguing relationship had no simple answer.“I think the ending does honor the dance,” says Bomer. “It’s difficult to bring everything that’s happened between them into six episodes. There are so many character elements.
“What I like is that everything isn’t wrapped up neatly in a box, like a television package. It’s open to interpretation.”
“I like the ending,” says DeKay. “I think fans of the show will talk about it, but they’ll be satisfied.”
The 51-year-old DeKay’s own reaction to the end of the show, after spending a good part of the last six years climbing into Peter Burke’s clothes, is nuanced.
“I’ll miss working with Neal Caffrey more than I’ll miss being Peter Burke,” he muses. “I’ll just miss Neal Caffrey in general.”
That also means Bomer, since the two actors became good friends over their time together.“I’ll miss the connections,” says Bomer. “How you get to work with each other. And I’ll take away the amazing things I’ve learned here.
“But that’s how it is with actors. It’s a gypsy lifestyle — if you’re lucky enough to be employed.”
The 37-year-old Bomer doesn’t throw that last phrase around lightly. After he moved to New York and scored some early success with “Guiding Light,” he hit a slow period where, he has said, he considered leaving acting altogether.
Things perked up, particularly after “White Collar” launched in 2009. By 2011, BuddyTV had named him the sexiest man on television. People magazine called him the sexiest man alive.
That was cool enough, but better yet, he landed the role of Felix in the recent HBO adaptation of Larry Kramer’s play “The Normal Heart,” about the early days of AIDS.
The Felix role, which Bomer had called a dream gig and for which he lost a scary amount of weight, earned him an Emmy nomination. Should have earned him the Emmy.
Sliding from the intense, tragic Felix back to smooth operator Neal had its rough moments.
“It was a challenge,” Bomer says. “At first I didn’t know how I’d ever go back to work again. Anywhere. Everyone was so committed (to ‘The Normal Heart’) that it was hard to let go.
“Everybody here had to be patient with me for the first few weeks, and they were.”
Over the years, says Bomer, “So much of Neal Caffrey has been intuition. Some of what he wants are the things I want ... and I challenged myself to find the aspects of the character that weren’t me.Playing him meant developing a sixth sense of where he would go next.”
DeKay, whose Peter Burke has in some ways been a straight man for Neal and Mozzie, says their interactions helped establish his own character.
“Whenever I’d have trouble with a moment, I’d always go back to the Neal-and-Peter relationship,” he says. “And 99% of the time, that’s where I’d find the answer.”
“White Collar” has established a secure spot in television history as one of the clean, breezy dramas — along with the likes of “Burn Notice,” “Psych,” “Monk,” “Suits,” “Royal Pains” and “Covert Affairs” — that helped make USA a top player among cable networks.
It was a show that welcomed viewers and never assaulted their senses. A good story, well-acted, has been sufficient.
“Even in the very dark scenes, there could be something to lighten it,” says DeKay.
“One of my favorite things about ‘White Collar’ was always when people would tell me they watched it as a family,” says Bomer. “It was a show everyone could relate to.”
