White Collar, so far better than I expected
I didn't expect much from the show White Collar, since I've had a hell of a time getting into any television shows of late, but it's all right. It would even be good if it could get over it's premise, which I doubt it will. *sigh* I like the main characters all right, and I really like that Peter, the FBI agent, is a) happily married and b) not an asshole. His trust in Neal, the con artist/forger/whatnot, does go up and down based on the episode, which is slightly annoying, but it's a restrained sort of up and down and has yet to make me want to throw things at the television. The premise, and the modern need for shows to have some thing as a background story, still bugs me, but not so much that it puts me off the show completely.
Things I like about the show, so far: there was a lesbian FBI agent in the first episode, just in passing, Neal is staying in the guest room of a wealthy widow - who is a woman of color, the show has a pleasant tone and seems mostly positive about people (it is very much not set in the same "reality" as other current crime shows), and I really like the relationship between Peter and Elizabeth (his wife). A television show with a happily married couple? Where she isn't jealous of his job? Where she doesn't get all freaked out when he ends up in mildly compromising positions on his cases? Where she has a career of her own? That actually proves useful in his cases from time to time? Holy crap.
And, even though the show has had every cliche you'd expect from the set up (seriously, what's the point of this kind of back ground for a show if you're just going to do the same things everyone else has done?), it's played them rather lower key than is typical. I'm trying not to roll my eyes too much when the background story wanders into the plot - though when it comes to Kate, this is very difficult - but I still find myself thinking the show would be just fine with Neal being a former criminal turned FBI agent with a less eye roll inducing set up. (He was four months from getting out of prison when his significant other, Kate, vanished on him, so he broke out of prison. And Peter caught him again. And he convinced Peter to let him be, essentially, work release to the FBI - so he could find out what happened to Kate. This leads to every cliche you'd expect.)
Actually, I think I'm mostly watching it for the shocking happily married couple.
This entry was originally posted at http://smurasaki.dreamwidth.org/102255.html.
Things I like about the show, so far: there was a lesbian FBI agent in the first episode, just in passing, Neal is staying in the guest room of a wealthy widow - who is a woman of color, the show has a pleasant tone and seems mostly positive about people (it is very much not set in the same "reality" as other current crime shows), and I really like the relationship between Peter and Elizabeth (his wife). A television show with a happily married couple? Where she isn't jealous of his job? Where she doesn't get all freaked out when he ends up in mildly compromising positions on his cases? Where she has a career of her own? That actually proves useful in his cases from time to time? Holy crap.
And, even though the show has had every cliche you'd expect from the set up (seriously, what's the point of this kind of back ground for a show if you're just going to do the same things everyone else has done?), it's played them rather lower key than is typical. I'm trying not to roll my eyes too much when the background story wanders into the plot - though when it comes to Kate, this is very difficult - but I still find myself thinking the show would be just fine with Neal being a former criminal turned FBI agent with a less eye roll inducing set up. (He was four months from getting out of prison when his significant other, Kate, vanished on him, so he broke out of prison. And Peter caught him again. And he convinced Peter to let him be, essentially, work release to the FBI - so he could find out what happened to Kate. This leads to every cliche you'd expect.)
Actually, I think I'm mostly watching it for the shocking happily married couple.
This entry was originally posted at http://smurasaki.dreamwidth.org/102255.html.