Monk

TV Review: USA Connects Again With Entertaining ‘White Collar’

BrianTT — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:39:20 -0600

CHICAGO – The creative roll of the USA Network continues tonight with the debut of another quick, clever, mystery-of-the-week series that should satisfy fans of their hits like “Monk,” “Psych,” “Burn Notice,” and “Royal Pains”. “White Collar” doesn’t break any molds, almost fitting too predictably into the USA dynamic, but it’s an entertaining program for the end of a long week and looks likely to be another slam dunk for one of the most successful cable networks of the ’00s.

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

“White Collar” practically feels like a hybrid of USA hits from its plot description alone. It features international conspiracies a la “Burn Notice” but does so with a buddy duo like “Psych” and is set in the world of the uber-wealthy like “Royal Pains”. Of course, being derivative means little to viewers of a show like this as long as it’s entertaining and “White Collar” is surprisingly so, held high by one of the best new oil-and-water dynamics of the year.

Willie Garson as Mozzie, Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey, Tim DeKay as Peter Burke, Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke
Photo credit: Nigel Perry/USA

The odd couple at the center of “White Collar” are a con man and a G-man. The former is Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer of “Chuck”), a handsome, suave, blue-eyed player who can basically talk anyone into anything and has made millions in the world of art fraud and other white collar crimes. The latter is the man who caught him, Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay of “Carnivale”). He’s awkward, anxious, and the A-side to Caffrey’s B-side. He clearly wants justice but wouldn’t mind a few dating tips while he’s taking Neal back to jail.

Matthew Bomer as Neal Caffrey, Tim DeKay as Peter Burke
Photo credit: David Giesbrecht/USA

They are paired up when Caffrey inexplicably escapes from prison mere months before his scheduled release. Burke catches up with him (perhaps too easily) and the two forge an unusual arrangement. It turns out that Neal broke out because the love of his life took off, changed her identity, and disappeared. Why did she leave? Did she do so on her own or is something more dangerous going on?

Caffrey wants to do everything he can to find her and works out an arrangement with Burke. He’ll help the feds find the most elusive criminals in the world, as long as he’s on the outside and able to pursue leads about what’s going on with his lost love. The con man gets an ankle bracelet and the G-man gets a partner.

One might expect that a show with this set-up would play off fears of white collar stories like the saga of Bernie Madoff but “White Collar” feels a lot more playful and less concerned with real world issues than that. At its best, it plays more like “The Thomas Crown Affair” than something ripped-from-the-headlines like the “Law & Order” series. And that’s a smart decision. It makes for a breezy, charming show. We don’t need to be reminded of real-life concerns on a Friday night. There are other shows for that kind of drama writing.

Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke, Tim DeKay as Peter Burke, Matthew Bomer as Neal Caffrey
Photo credit: David Giesbrecht/USA

The 90-minute premiere features the overall set-up for the characters and a case of art fraud that is surprisingly well-crafted. The dialogue writing on “White Collar” needs some work but the plot writing is quick and clever with enough twists and turns to maintain viewer interest. Let’s hope they keep it up. And with a few tweaks to the dialogue, something that I think will come as the writers and actors become more attuned to these characters, “White Collar” will only improve.

Of course, the writing of the actual mysteries won’t matter if viewers don’t take to the two leads. A show like this wins half the battle on casting alone and Bomer and DeKay are a perfect pair. Bomer’s smooth style is perfectly balanced by DeKay’s more old-fashioned delivery. The supporting cast, including Tiffani Thiessen and Willie Garson (“Sex and the City”) are also interesting.

On the spectrum of USA shows, “White Collar” is probably closest to “Burn Notice,” the best show on the network right now (and it’s no coincidence as the premiere was directed by a vet of “Burn”). Both series have interesting mysteries/capers that are fueled by the characters not just supported by them. It’s hard to say how a show will connect after just one episode but, especially with the recent track record of USA Network, don’t bet against “White Collar”.

‘White Collar,’ which airs on USA, stars Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Tiffani Thiessen, and Willie Garson. The show premieres on October 23rd, 2009 at 9PM CST.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

TV Review: Final Season of ‘Monk’ Opens With Good Episode; ‘Psych’ Also Returns

BrianTT — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:08:45 -0600

CHICAGO – For seven years, USA Network’s “Monk” has consistently delivered quality entertainment. It’s never been a show that set out to break the rules or even do anything too interesting within them, but it has rarely faltered at all in its ability to entertain, something that can be said about very few series that have been on this long. Like a great old band going for one final tour, the final season of “Monk” promises to play all the greatest hits and go out on a high note.

TV Rating: 3.5/5.0

You’d have to have lived under a rock for the ’00s or just bought your first TV to be saying “what is this show called ‘Monk’”? The award-winning mystery series has been a beloved part of the basic cable landscape for the better part of the decade and the season premiere of the final arc of the show doesn’t break the pattern of what fans have come to expect from the Tony Shalhoub vehicle.

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk.
Photo credit: Vivian Zink/USA

The actor with some of the best comic timing on television portrays Adrian Monk, a brilliant San Francisco detective with OCD that makes getting through the day difficult but often helps him get the bad guy. His phobias have increased since the murder of his wife Trudy years ago and he needs the regular assistance of Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) just to get from point A to point B. Assisting with the weekly mystery are the deadpan Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford).

The opening episode of the eighth and final season of “Monk” features Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”) and Rena Sofer in “Mr. Monk’s Favorite Show”. Perkins plays the star of an old sitcom that looks inspired by “The Brady Bunch”. She’s releasing a tell-all book and someone’s trying to kill her. Enter Monk to solve the crime and the fact that the star happens to be from his favorite show adds to the comedy quotient.

“Monk” is mostly a one-man show (although Levine is better than he gets credit for and Howard & Gray-Stanford certainly aren’t bad), but it’s a great one-man show with Shalhoub having won 3 Emmy Awards for his work (and nominated again this summer).

It’s comfort-food television. Every week, fans have tuned in knowing that the mystery will be solved by the bumbling detective. It’s heartwarming to think that if someone with OCD as bad as Adrian Monk can get the bad guy than there’s hope for this world.

The opening episode of the final season of “Monk” delivers the same blend of quirky comedy and intriguing mystery that fans of the show have come to know and love. I can’t imagine anyone who has watched the series for seven years, tuning into “Mr. Monk’s Favorite Show” and canceling their season pass for the rest of the season. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s above the average in terms of laughs, mystery, and Shalhoub’s performance when compared to three-dozen-or-so episodes of the show I’ve seen since its premiere.

Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Tony Shalhoub.
Photo credit: Vivian Zink/USA

The final season of “Monk” promises personal revelations for all of the characters, including the return of Sharona (Bitty Schram) and the resolution of the mystery of who killed Monk’s wife Trudy. From the tone and execution of the season premiere, “Monk” looks likely to go out delivering the same quality television that it has been doing since 2002.

After the premiere, guest stars for season eight include Dylan Baker, Meat Loaf, Bernie Kopell, Jay Mohr, Daniel Stern, Alex Wolff, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Balfour, Kelly Carlson, and Reed Diamond. Special appearances will also be made by Tim Bagley as Monk’s nemesis Harold Krenshaw and Bitty Schram.

The desperate kid brother to “Monk,” the decent-but-frustrating “Psych,” also returns tonight after the season premiere of “Monk”.

James Roday, Dule Hill, and Corbin Bernsen return for the fourth season of “Psych,” a show that has never quite found the rhythm or the driving lead performance of “Monk,” but can occasionally deliver as an entertaining diversion. The season premiere, “Extradition: British Columbia,” features the boys outwitting a notorious art thief played by Cary Elwes.

The ‘Monk’ season premiere airs on USA Network on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 8pm CST. It stars Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford.

The ‘Psych’ season premiere airs on USA Network on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 9pm CST. It stars James Roday, Dule Hill, and Corbin Bernsen.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

2009 Mid-Season TV Preview: ‘Lost,’ ‘Damages,’ ‘Nip/Tuck,’ ‘24,’ More

BrianTT — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:08:01 -0700

CHICAGO – Be honest, TV fans. Fall 2008 was lackluster at best. The TV season really starts now.

With the strike delaying production on established series and the development of new ones, many more programs are returning or premiering in Jan. 2009 than the average mid-season. It couldn’t have come at a more important time for the medium, too.

To be blunt, the first 31 days of 2009 could be one of the most important months in the history of television. It comes down to this - If established hits like “24,” “Damages,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Monk,” “American Idol,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Lost,” and “The Closer” don’t meet expectations and if a new show like “United States of Tara,” “The Beast,” “Lie To Me,” or “Trust Me” can’t take off and become an established hit, television is likely to change forever.

Sound like an exaggeration? Consider this - NBC gave up on an hour of original, scripted programming every single night. They’re so disappointed in their slate of 10 pm dramas, including failures like “My Own Worst Enemy,” that they’re handing over an hour of TV every night to talk show host Jay Leno. It’s one of the most amazing programming decisions of the last few years and proof that original television on the big networks is changing for good. Does anyone think we’re that far off from all reality and talk on the major networks with original programming relegated to pay cable, basic cable, and the internet? I don’t.

And the Leno story is only one of the biggest headlines of a season that has seen far more failures than successes. Shows that took off the post-strike period, including “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money,” saw ratings decline every week before their cancellations. It feels like people left during the strike and simply never came back.

New hits? There aren’t any outside of CBS, the only network that has anything to be happy about this year with the massive success of “The Mentalist” and the continued growth of “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother”. More than ever, the buzz in 2008 went from the big networks to the cable box with HBO launching new hits, Showtime developing their own, and even AMC developing a reputation for quality.

We’ll get into what worked and what didn’t in our TV year in review next week at HollywoodChicago.com, but let’s look ahead before we look back. Is it too late for the broadcast networks to save this sinking ship? Are NBC, Fox, and ABC done? Will there be another “Mad Men” in the bunch of shows premiering this month? Can a series actually improve on last year’s ratings for once? Let’s hope so.

Stay tuned to HollywoodChicago.com for reviews and coverage of all the upcoming series and mark your calendar with the highlights of the coming month on the following page, in chronological order.