One of my favorite things about what I’ve seen of White Collar so far, other than the comedy elements that come from Mozzie, is how they’ve worked in Agent Burke’s wife, Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen). She’s attractive and closer to Caffrey’s age than her husband’s, and Caffrey has made a career out of being ridiculously hot and charming. However, White Collar doesn’t go to the place that 99% of other shows would: all of the stars confirmed that there is never going to be a love triangle between these characters.
So when Burke comes home in the pilot to find Caffrey sitting on the couch with his wife, it’s not because anything untoward is happening. As Bomer explains it, “I envy and find fascinating his domestic family life. I’m fascinated by what it’s like to have a real family and a life where you can just settle down and you have breakfast together in the morning and all this. Because I don’t think I ever understood those kinds of things.”
Thiessen is also happy she isn’t going to have to go down the “bad girl” road again, like she did on 90210, saying, “You’ve seen it so many times. You’ve seen it over and over, and I’ve played it over and over. So, yeah, I’m glad too. Believe me, I’m glad.” Thiessen is so committed to keeping her TV marriage intact instead of going down the tired road of falling for the bad boy, that she goes so far as to promise nothing inappropriate will happen between Elizabeth and Caffrey, “I promise you it’s something I will fight for always. I mean, not that marriages don’t argue and have issues, but it’s a good solid marriage, which I like.”
Even though we’ve seen similarly-movies, such as Catch Me if You Can and The Thomas Crown Affair, White Collar is unlike anything that’s currently on television. The fact that it’s not another medical or cop procedural is a big plus on its side, but Willie Garson really hit on what makes this show so interesting: “Look, I’m from New Jersey. I come from working people … this is such a good show for this time, as we’ve certainly seen a lot of really hard-working people lose their livelihood. I’m fascinated by people who will just come up with more and more ways to screw people out of money, instead of just getting a job.”
White Collar makes its debut on USA Network this Friday, October 23 at 10 PM Eastern.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Oct 19, 2009 @ 13:30 EST5EDT
There’s few things that can repel me from a show as quickly as a love triangle, whether the vertex is male or female. If it’s part of the initial concept, I can end up skipping the entire series.
The USA commercials definitely implied some kind of vibe, so I’m glad to learn that’s not the case.
I actually think the marketing campaign for the show has been totally wrong. The commercials give you the impression that the show’s all about this slick guy, when in reality it’s about Caffrey AND Burke, and their relationship. I think USA’s trying to appeal to a subset of the audience, when accurate marketing would actually appeal to a much broader, and thus larger, group of people. Hopefully once the pilot airs they’ll course-correct.
Kona, awesome interview opus! ;)