WHITE COLLAR FIXATION

SEASON FIVE PROMO PICS!

2013-05-21T21:58:00.000-04:00

These are, um, all over the place now, but my source is hell yeah, white collar. (Lots more over there!)

White Collar "Upfronts" Via Sharif Atkin's Twitter

2013-05-16T23:52:00.000-04:00

Tim DeKay, Tiffani Thiessen, Sharif Atkins and Matt Bomer

The cast of White Collar is looking good at Pier 36 in New York City!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2013-05-12T12:09:00.002-04:00

Neal dancing with June in honor of Mother's Day. ;)

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

Back to Work Monday - It Always Pays to Look Good when Meeting with a Kidnapper

2013-04-22T16:09:00.001-04:00

Peter and Neal Suit Up, Keller's Lost the Tie, and Moz Isn't Even Trying

Casual Friday - Peter and Neal Lose the Suits

2013-04-19T08:34:00.000-04:00

Peter loses the suit, and Neal's lost a little blood. I think I've lost my mind - those forearms!

The Boston Marathon

2013-04-15T17:30:00.004-04:00

Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted by this despicable act of terror (whether its originator was domestic or foreign), and to the city of Boston itself. And we thank and appreciate all the first responders, and everyone who is working to save lives there.

Back to Work Monday - Peter and Neal Suit Up

2013-04-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

Apparently neither Peter nor Neal can believe it's Monday again.

Casual Fridays - Neal Loses the Suit

2013-04-12T15:52:00.001-04:00

Nothing like a little blue-eye'd action when Neal's making some art

Back To Work Monday - Peter Suits Up

2013-04-08T13:07:00.001-04:00

Peter suits up to catch a thief. He also looks terrific in blue.

Semi-Casual Friday - Neal Strips Down, Peter Keeps the Suit

2013-04-05T10:46:00.001-04:00

As if we needed the excuse that it's Friday to enjoy sweaty Neal in a revealing tank top. Poor Peter looks way too hot, though.

Many thanks to Kanarek13 for the lovely cap.

Back-To-Work Monday - Neal in a Tux

2013-04-01T13:58:00.002-04:00

It's Monday and Neal's got a gun pointed at his head. So what else is new?

HAPPY EASTER!

2013-03-31T11:57:00.001-04:00

Peter and Neal questioning a priest on the finer theological points of the holiday.

Wishing all who celebrate a joyous Easter!

How to include slash-fic potential in your White Collar rip off

2013-03-30T22:44:00.003-04:00

This hilarious video will show you how it's done. (Warning for some mature puns & innuendos!)

We Have a Start Date For Season 5 Filming

2013-03-28T12:32:00.001-04:00

According to Tim DeKay, who really should know these things, filming will start on May 10th! With any luck, it may actually stop snowing here in New York by then.

Happy Passover!

2013-03-25T12:52:00.002-04:00

Neal tries to get through a Seder with his father at Chez Burke.

Remember, the four cups of wine make it easier to bear with even the most difficult relatives!

Casual Friday - Nearly Naked Peter and Neal

2013-03-22T11:09:00.001-04:00

Despite the guy with the bowtie in the middle, you can't get more casual than Nearly Naked Peter and Neal

Back To Work Monday - Peter, Neal and Jones Suit Up, Moz...

2013-03-18T11:01:00.000-04:00


A rare shot of the four gorgeous guys of White Collar

Signal Boost: Community Rewatch Tonight - White Collar 1.01 - PILOT!

2013-03-12T10:56:00.001-04:00

Neal is very puzzled by the long hiatus and wants something to do on Tuesday nights, too

Tonight at 9:30 EDT/6:30 PDT (1:30 AM Wed GMT for the Europeans who don't sleep), you are all welcome to join in the community rewatch of Pilot at the White Collar Writers' Union on LiveJournal. We thought it would be a terrific way to spend Tuesday nights until the new episodes start to air.

How it works: At the specified start time, you launch your copy of Pilot (your DVDs, from Netflix, your copy on your computer), and you chat along with your fellow fans.

Who can participate: You don't have to be a member of the Writers' Union or even have a LiveJournal account. There is a chat widget that lets you sign in with a user name of your choice.

The chat widget is on a "sticky" post, so when you go to the Writers' Union journal, it will be the first entry you see. However, the chat is NOT compatible with Firefox or other Mozilla-based browsers (it does work with IE, Chrome and Safari, I've not tested it with Opera).

It's going to be a lot of fun and the more, the merrier.

Back-To-Work Monday - Two Men in Suits, Only One Gets to Go to Work

2013-03-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

Peter meets Reese for coffee and some information. This day will not end well for one of them.

Screen cap courtesy of the ever-fabulous Kanarek13!

Rabid Squee: In the Wind

2013-03-08T09:44:00.003-05:00

Bed head and a little tongue action?
Be still my heart.

What an exciting final episode for Season 4, yes? On to the Squee without further ado…

Matt Bomer Really Hit it Out of the Park: I’ve said before how wonderfully subtle he can be as an actor, but in this episode he really brought that home in the big moments too. The vulnerability he shows in the opening scene with Treat Williams is so real, it nearly broke my heart to see the hope he puts into Neal's eyes that he might finally get the relationship with his father he’s always longed for. Then, in the proposal scene – cripes, he was so earnest and sincere, I wonder how Hilarie Burton didn’t just break character and accept that proposal right there and then (not that either her or Matt’s partners would be all that thrilled by the idea, LOL).

Of course, his most powerful moment was saved for the end, when the enormity of what James had done truly hit home. Disappointment gave way to outrage, begging, and finally anguish as James admitted his duplicity and cowardice and rabbited, and it was so painful to watch, I naturally had to rewind five or six times.

Break my heart, why don't you, Matt?

Special thanks go to the episode’s director, Russ Fine, for how those closing shots were shot and edited together (ach, kid!Neal breaks my heart every time), and for reusing that rocking background music to underpin it. Did anyone but me recognize it as the same guitar-driven theme used when Neal had his breakdown after nearly shooting Fowler in Point Blank? So: kudos to the show's composer, Jon Ehrlich, as well.

The Quiet Moments Were Lovely: It was the little things that added up to making this an even better than average episode. Neal and Peter’s heart-to-heart, that opening father-son scene, Clinton and Diana’s loyalty to their boss, the quiet intensity of Hughes as he met with Peter – all of these made an indelible impression on me.

The ep was this fetishist's dream, featuring barefoot!Neal, shirtless!Neal, and Neal with a dog. Sigh.

Don’t Piss Off Reese Hughes: When he says he’s got “friends,” he means it! Damn, he sicced the NSA on Calloway and Pratt – that’s a lot of juice for a retired guy. Good for him!

So is James a Bad Guy or Just a Coward? On first viewing, I thought he was just a coward, not wanting to go to prison and willing to let an innocent man take the fall. But then I rewatched the episode with an eye toward James’ behavior, and he’s a little too intense when insisting that he be the one to deliver the evidence box to Neal, which makes me think he really is bad and has been lying to Neal all along (his intention being to sift through the evidence and take out what implicated him). Of course, Moz pulled the switch and the evidence Neal found in the box corroborates James’ guilt, leading me definitively to the bad guy conclusion.

And Ellen was right, huh? Neal was supposed to have trusted Sam. But one thing still confuses me: Pratt called James a convicted cop-killer. If he was convicted, why does he care what the evidence shows? Wouldn't double jeopardy apply? Unless he wasn't convicted of the scores of other counts (i.e. corruption, larceny, obstruction) against him, so that's hanging over his head? Don't those have statutes of limitations? What do you guys think?

Goodbye Sara, I’ll Miss You. Shipping Sara off to London is an elegant way to have the character exit – if it’s indeed going to be permanent – but the show will be a bit less fun without her. I really enjoyed Hilarie Burton’s performance, and I will miss her wry, playful, sassy presence. While I have problems with the character that are to be laid more at the writers’ feet than anything (it’s the inconsistencies, guys – hire a story editor!), I thought she was the right mixture of vulnerability, ballsiness, and sexiness that played perfectly against Neal's character. Plus, it sure looked like Hilarie had a lot of fun making out with Matt Bomer – like any red blooded American ought to!

'Bye, Sara, we at WCF will miss you.

I Want a Programmable RC Dirigible! That’s all, really.

Poor Peter! I love how they subtly downplayed his involvement in this caper, having him work behind the scenes, to make the ending that much more impactful. Not that he wasn’t a factor, but the script put Neal and James more in the foreground as they finally got close to retrieving the evidence box. It was kinda-but-not-really a red herring, and a beautiful setup for the twisty ending.

And oh, our favorite FBI agent is in a butt load of trouble, isn’t he? James was wearing gloves – no fingerprints or gunshot residue on his hands – and took Pratt’s weapon with him, which doesn’t give Peter’s story of what really happened much, if any, credibility. And Peter picked up his weapon to shoot back at him – man, he’s really screwed. I can’t wait to see how Neal and the Harvard Crew (plus Hughes, I hope, because the old man’s still got game) rescue him.

An innocent man! Can't wait for next season.

I will also say that I look forward to the resolution of this very much. The show is at its best when Neal and Peter are rescuing each other – whether it’s Peter talking Neal out of killing Fowler, or Neal and the rest of Burke’s Seven saving Peter’s job. When there are personal stakes on the line, the characters and the cases just SING.

Yay Moz! He kinda kept his distrust of James under wraps, showing uncharacteristic restraint , but bless his suspicious little heart all the same.

So, Did You Predict It? I confess, I thought this very thing would play out, with Peter arrested for something, but I didn’t think that would be the cliffhanger – was hoping for some imperiled!Neal, personally. But I’ll take it! The resolution will be terrific, I have no doubt, and we fanfic writers will have thousands of permutations of how this will be played out to write over the intervening months.

Non-Squee of the Week, Minor
The caper of the week was terrific, but… James and Moz, you retrieved the box, but did you have to stick around when the acid you used ate through the ceiling of the floor below, comically mugging at Pratt like this was an episode of Scooby-Doo? Corny or hilarious? This jury’s still out.

Non-Squee of the Week, Major
The show’s not coming back until the Fall?!? Woe!

Love, love, love the ending sequence!

Quote of the Week

“You show me you’re better than this! You show me you’re a decent man!”

My heart, she is broken, along with Neal's. My fic-writing muse, she is overjoyed, but she’s a twisted b-word.

So, Collars, what did you think of James’ duplicity? How did you like the ending? How will Neal save his ~~boy~~friend? Head to the comments!

Jeff Eastin Talks About Season Five (Spoilers)

2013-03-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

Jeff Eastin

Jeff Eastin talks about what he's planning for Season Five in this interview with the Hollywood Reporter. It's given me hope that Sara might return--and, more importantly, he has some intriguing things to say about where he'd like to take Peter and Neal's relationship:

"For me, being able to move the dynamics of the two guys back to something closer to the pilot, where Peter is more the taskmaster and Neal is trying his best to be good when the circumstances around him aren't allowing him to do that."

I'm torn! On the one hand, I love that aspect of their relationship--it's exactly what drew me to the show in the first place. On the other, I've liked the fact that the two men have seemed to have grow more equal in this past season. So I'm going to reserve judgment for a while . . .

First Thoughts: In the Wind (Spoilers Ahead!)

2013-03-06T00:33:00.000-05:00

Are we sure that proposal was fake?

Wow! I think this was by far my favorite White Collar cliff hanger, and a damn good episode to boot.

We saw Peter and Neal, as Jeff Eastin promised, end up closer than ever. We saw them working together throughout the episode, with Peter willing to risk his career in order to bring Pratt to justice and vindicate Neal’s father. We saw Neal telling Peter that ‘family’ wasn’t the guy who showed up on your doorstep after thirty years—it was the one who’d been there for you all along.

We saw Hughes refuse to go gently into his forced retirement, as he advised Peter to go after Pratt even if he had to “redraw the lines” to do it.

We saw Neal propose to Sara! A fake proposal (in the service of a plot to find the evidence box) that was perilously close to real for both of them. Allegedly she’s off to England now. If she stays away—well, it was a beautiful send off with a certain kind of closure. But I’m hoping she comes back soon. I still like Neal and Sara for the long term.

We saw Elizabeth put to excellent use—her part was small, but poignant and pitch-perfect, especially as the episode drew to a close. Mozzie had a crucial role as well, plus a surprise con of his own. (Go Mozzie!) I only wish Diana and Jones had gotten more time.

We saw stunning shots from the Empire State Building. I haven't been inside it since I was a kid (you take these things for granted when you live close by) but maybe I need to fix that.

And, finally, we saw Neal discover exactly who his father is: a man who has been trying to cover up a murder he committed in the past. A man who shoots Pratt in self-defense, but leaves Peter to be charged with the senator's death. Neal wants James to prove that he’s better than that. He wants his father to do the right thing even if it means going back to prison. But James isn’t swayed; he walks out of Neal’s life, letting Peter take the fall for him.

Neal knows what really happened, and so one of the questions for next season should be whether he takes James’s earlier words to heart: “You know, you’re not me, Neal.” Hopefully, the truth of that is obvious to Neal now—especially since he knows who his real family is.

Of course, there’s the larger problem of how to clear Peter. I can’t wait to find out who the show exonerates him—and I can’t wait to see Peter and Neal working together to make that happen.

Now it’s your turn, Collars! How did you feel about the Season Four finale?

Lots of Tim Tonight!

2013-03-05T20:13:00.001-05:00

Tim DeKay

So, it turns out Tim is on Body of Proof tonight on ABC--opposite the White Collar season finale! Set your DVR's, everyone . . .

Back To Work Monday - Neal Suits Up, With Extra Intensity

2013-03-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

It always helps to look your best during those heart-to-heart talks with dear old Dad

Previews from the Season Finale!

2013-03-03T22:45:00.003-05:00

One and Three! Has anyone seen number Two?