Grantland

white collar

Resize Font: A- A+

SUMMERWATCH

Team USA: White Collar Is Your One-Way Ticket to Bomer Town

By Juliet Litman at

Now that we are well into July, the good old USA Network has begun to trot out its heavyweights. White Collar owned Tuesday nights last summer (with some help with Covert Affairs, too; more on that next week), even beating out the networks in its time slot. We're just one episode into the fourth season. With a notable new face and 100 percent more caipirinhas, it's time to join the movement.

This is the show for you if you like: The Rat Pack and buddy-cop comedies. Neal Caffrey is a thief and a lover of the finer things in life, like expertly tailored suits, fedoras, and expensive paintings. FBI agent Peter Burke is a standup guy who hunted Neal for years before ultimately catching him. Now, the two are a team: Neal is Peter's partner in solving white collar crimes for "the bureau." (Peter says the words "the bureau" at least once per episode.) Instead of serving out a sentence in jail, Neal reports to Peter and together they take down high-level gambling rings, art forgers, and the like. Of course, Neal can't suppress all his con-man urges, so high jinks ensue and Peter often has to save (and cover for) Neal. Meanwhile, Neal is thrilled to be free from jail because he can return to wearing the '50s-style clothes that he somehow lucked into as they strut around New York City, just happening to always be in front of the city's most beautiful mid-century facades.

Resize Font: A- A+

CASTING MERRY-GO-ROUND

The Kindest Cut: Natalie Morales is Out of the Chelsea Handler Show

Natalie Morales
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Under the cover of a weekend famous for blowing stuff up, NBC did exactly that with one of its least-promising new sitcoms: Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, the TV adaptation of Chelsea Handler’s mystifyingly popular book in which the comedienne reveals her boyfriend once got a blowjob from a dog. Once scheduled for midseason, the show now appears as shaky as Handler on Rick Ross’s go-cart. The reason? The holiday axing of three core cast members: jerky comedian Jo Koy, former ER nurse Angel Laketa Moore, and — gasp! — the wonderful Natalie Morales. (Series star Laura Prepon remains.)

Top Stories

MOST POPULAR

  1. The brainless, semibrilliant 'Fast 6'
  2. Rating the lead singers of active bands in 2013
  3. From concussions to instant replays, WWE has started acting like the NFL
  4. Richard Simmons, still sweatin' to oldies
  5. The return of 'Arrested Development'