White Collar
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — White Collar (2009–2014) on USA, season 1, episode 1, aired 2009-10-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 81 in the White Collar guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2009-10-23 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Threads” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. Pilot cuffs a forger to an FBI square: Matt Bomer polish, Mozzie as chorus, USA stylish crime, friendship already plotting harder than the paintings.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
With a few months left on his four-year sentence, criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey escapes from maximum security prison to save his relationship with his girlfriend. FBI Agent Peter Burke, the man who had chased him for years and had finally caught him, is called in to track him down. He easily finds Neal at his girlfriend's apartment, deflated and defeated. She has completely disappeared. Back in prison and with four years added to his sentence, Neal decides to make a deal with Agent Burke to help him in finding other master criminals. The deal is made and Neal is released, with a GPS ankle monitor, of course, into the custody of Agent Burke. The uneasy partnership proves a success and Neal becomes an official FBI consultant, living large, to Agent Burke's astonishment and frustration, in a wealthy widow's guest-room. Neal, also, secretly brings in an old friend to help him find his girlfriend.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the White Collar guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 81 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did White Collar S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 2009-10-23 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is White Collar about the paintings?
The art is the MacGuffin. A forger works off a sentence beside a square handler; the friendship does more plotting than the canvases.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A charming forger in a fedora works off his sentence beside a square FBI handler, and the friendship does more plotting than the paintings. White Collar is stylish USA crime — Matt Bomer polish, Mozzie as chorus, Manhattan as a long con's playground.
The fedora is the entire press tour. Matt Bomer's Neal Caffrey walks Manhattan like a long con's playground, polish as the silhouette, an anklet as the only jewelry that tells the truth. Jeff Eastin's White Collar (2009–2014) is USA's charming crime brand at its most stylish: Tim DeKay's Peter Burke as the square FBI handler, Willie Garson's Mozzie stealing episodes, Tiffani Thiessen, Marsha Thomason. A charming art thief works off a sentence. The friendship does more plotting than the paintings.…
Filed against
- Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey
Matt Bomer worked the fedora as Neal Caffrey on White Collar — a charming forger beside a square FBI handler, friendship doing more plotting than the paintings. Stylish USA crime, Mozzie as chorus, Manhattan as a long con’s playground. TV…
- Tim DeKay as Peter Burke
Tim DeKay squared White Collar as Peter Burke — a charming forger in a fedora working off a sentence beside a square FBI handler, friendship doing more plotting than the paintings. Stylish USA crime, Manhattan as a long con's playground.…
- Willie Garson as Mozzie
Willie Garson’s Mozzie chorused White Collar as the friendship under the fedora — a charming forger working off a sentence beside a square FBI handler, stylish USA crime, Matt Bomer polish, Manhattan as a long con’s playground. The…
- Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke
Tiffani Thiessen’s Kelly Kapowski locked Saved by the Bell’s Bayside archetypes in living color — Zack schemes, Slater, Jessie, Lisa, Screech, Saturday-morning brightness — then polished White Collar as the long-con’s Manhattan partner.…
- Marsha Thomason as Diana Berrigan
Marsha Thomason worked the bureau as Diana Berrigan on White Collar — a charming forger in a fedora beside a square FBI handler, friendship doing more plotting than the paintings. Stylish USA crime, Matt Bomer polish, Mozzie as chorus,…