White Collar vs Burn Notice

I’ve noticed these days that many of these drama shows, as opposed to sitcoms, tend to follow a certain format.  2/3 of the content of the show is for that particular episode, whereas 1/3 (often tacked on at the end) deals with some underlying, ongoing plot which continues week after week, probably to sustain viewer interest over the course of the season and from one season to the next.  In “NCIS: LA” it’s about Chris O’Donnell’s character’s alleged Romanian origins (stupid cryptic small old woman talking in clues), whereas in “Person of Interest” the story is how the pair’s spy network of surveillance cameras around Manhattan was originally developed.  But I only watch those shows if they’re in front of me at the gym while I’m huffing and puffing away on the treadmill; neither interests me enough to watch at home or anywhere else, and certainly not enough to rent on DVD.

 Two similar shows I do watch, mainly on DVD from Netflix, are “White Collar” and “Burn Notice.”  Since I’m so far behind on them (both only recently finished the first seasons) I focus on the DVDs and ignore the current seasons.

 White Collar (cable show on USA Network, on its fourth season now) is basically “to catch a thief” set in New York City.  A talented forger, Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), escaped from prison to find his girlfiend Kate, who disappeared but continually teases him with cryptic and mostly annoying clues.  In the meantime he assists the FBI White Collar division in catching various white collar criminals, particularly in the art theft and forgery dept., an area he knows a lot about.  His handler is a hopelessly square “suit”, Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), though Burke’s wife Elizabeth (Tiffany Thiessen) is pretty hot.  Each episode is Caffrey’s opportunity to help the FBI nab yet another classy criminal.  Caffrey has some help from his friend Mozzie (Willie Garson, probably best known as Carrie’s gay friend Stanford on “Sex and the City”, though this particular character appears asexual).  While I do enjoy the individual episodes, they’ve utterly failed at arousing my interest in whether Neal finds Kate or not.  ZZZ.  I’m not enthralled with Neal and Kate is too ephemeral and elusive to be attractive.  Enough already.

 Burn Notice (cable show, also on USA Network, now on its sixth season) is more of a spy thing.  Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is a former CIA officer who was “burned” (abruptly fired) while on business in Lagos, Nigeria.  He made it back to Miami, Florida, where he’s essentially stuck.  He has no credit, no assets, no legal existence but will be remain unmolested and left alone so long as he stays in Miami.  His good friend, retired FBI agent Sam (Bruce Campbell) is assigned to babysit him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid; against his better judgment, he also helps Westen out on jobs.  Campbell has packed on considerable mass since “Army of Darkness” (so have I).  Another friend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) keeps him company, assists him on jobs, but can’t seem to get him to commit to a relationship (although he doesn’t seem interested in anyone else).  I find her too emaciated to be attractive.  Westen narrates the show in the first person and explains much of what he’s doing in terms of security and spycraft.   Westen’s trade gave him a hefty array of useful skills, which he employs on various “jobs” for people, mainly “A-Team” type “damsel in distress” or “stick up for the underdog” assignments, all on a cash basis; he bumps ugly with a wide variety of very nasty, violent and dangerous bad guys.  His mom (Sharon Gless) is a source of support but also frustration.  He eats yogurt and drives a ’71-74 black Dodge Charger (inherited from his late father).  Meanwhile he tries (so far unsuccessfully, but I’ve only finished season 1) to find out who “burned” him and why.   

 Both Neal and Michael by nature frequently and easily assume a whole host of fictitious identities, many times on the fly.  Since they’re both on the same network, a crossover show might be cool, but it would mean Peter and Neal going to Miami.  Let’s work on it, people!

 Oddly, I like Burn Notice far more than White Collar.  Not only do I relate more to Westen (spy) than Caffrey (thief) but I also enjoy Westen’s quest to clear his name rather than Kate’s annoying games.  Then there’s the location: I’ve been to NYC dozens of time and my father’s side of the family is from there; as for Miami, I’ve only been there on two trips to Rio and never left the airport itself.  Miami reminds me of Rio, although it more closely resembles Recife.  Most likely I’m simply bored with NYC and curious about Miami.