If you like ‘Suits,’ watch ‘White Collar’

A surprising number of people I know seem to really like USA’s ‘Suits,’ the legal drama starring Gabriel Macht as an impeccably dressed, insanely egotistical lawyer and Patrick J. Adams as his genius associate. I came across so many Facebook status updates mentioning the show that I decided to see what the fuss was about and watched the first season this weekend, although I already had a pretty good idea of what the show was before I even saw a minute of it.

USA Network’s lineup of original programming all share similar traits. Their slogan is “Characters Welcome,” and indeed, all of their shows feature main characters that are attractive, highly intelligent (when the plot dictates it), and incredibly skillful at what they do (again, when the plot wants them to be), and they usually work in a pair or small group so that they can bounce playful banter off one another. These shows are all bright (literally; the sun is rarely not shining), breezy, feature weekly storylines along with longer ongoing arcs, and don’t require much thought to enjoy.

Now, I’m not here to slam ‘Suits,’ but after watching most of the first season – I watched all the episodes, but skipped a lot of subplots that didn’t interest me within those episodes – I don’t share my friends’ love for it either. I’ll admit that Macht’s Harvey Specter grew on me even though he’s so self-absorbed that I should hate him, but neither he or Adams have much screen presence, and much of the banter here feels forced, especially the bizarre, random movie references. I actually like the female characters – played by Gina Torres (of ‘Firefly’ fame, among a ton of other credits), Meghan Markle and Sarah Rafferty – much more (when they’re given something to do), and I enjoy Rick Hoffman’s douche-ness (Douchie-ness?) more than I thought I would.

As for the cases of the week… well I sat through most of them less than 24 hours ago and can’t remember a single one, so they’re not exactly the show’s main draw. I also didn’t like that a handful of them only got resolved because their solutions came to the characters practically out of thin air, Greg House-style. And if you actually think about it for a minute, you’ll realize that because these men are so smart and so good at what they do, the only way there can be any conflict with these cases is if the show temporarily makes them dumb and not so skilled before the answer eventually comes to them.

Which brings me to the reason I’m writing this. I know it sounds like I didn’t much like ‘Suits’ at all, but I didn’t watch that entire first season just so I could hate on it; I enjoyed watching it for the most part. The show’s bad habits show up less frequently as the season goes on, and the characters can indeed be very clever at times. It’s a perfectly serviceable summer diversion, the kind of show that’s easy to get into when you just wanna veg out on the couch (I’m not gonna be putting on an episode of ‘Breaking Bad’ if I’m just looking to relax and watch a little TV). And if you really like it, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be watching USA’s ‘White Collar’ as well.

The two series are very much alike. Just swap out the law firm for the FBI, change the genius associate into a convicted con man (who’s basically also a genius), and make the law cases white collar criminal cases, and they could be the same show. The key difference here is that all of the things that I like about ‘Suits,’ I enjoy a lot more on ‘White Collar.’ While many of the weekly cases might be just as forgettable as the ones on ‘Suits,’ an average episode of ‘White Collar’ tends to be more enjoyable because leads Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay are very likable actors, and the two seem to have a lot of fun playing off each other. And it’s also much more fun watching a con man con his way into catching a bad guy than it is watching a lawyer spew off some legal jargon to win a case.

One last thing. Both shows are set in New York, but ‘White Collar’ is the only one that actually films there. ‘Suits’ is shot in Toronto, and it might as well be set there (or any other city) because 95% of it takes place indoors. You can tell that ‘White Collar’ is filmed on location, as characters walk the streets, and the composition of shots actually showcases the city and its architecture very effectively. It may not seem like a big deal, but that kind of authenticity always makes a TV show or movie feel more immersive.

Beginning its fourth season next month, ‘White Collar’ started very much the same way ‘Suits’ did. It was enjoyable but mostly forgettable, but the series improved as it went on, making a number of creative leaps that either made the weekly cases more consistently interesting, or the season long arcs more involving (and sometimes both), all the while firmly anchored by the chemistry between Bomer and DeKay (and a solid supporting cast as well, led by Willie Garson and Tiffani Thiessen).

I’m not saying, ‘Forget about ‘Suits’ and watch ‘White Collar’ instead.’ I’m just letting every ‘Suits’ fan know that here’s another summer show that’s cut from the same cloth. So unless you really only watch ‘Suits’ for the lawyer speak, give ‘White Collar’ a try. There’s three seasons worth of episodes to catch up on before it returns July 10, and DVR’ing both it and ‘Suits’ and watching them back to back can make for some very enjoyable nights of TV this summer.