Trivia / White Collar

• Actor-Shared Background: Burke is from upstate New York, just like Tim DeKay.
• Author's Saving Throw: A new title sequence and theme were developed for Season 3 to highlight the expanded cast. However, it was dropped after a couple of episodes and replaced with an extended version of the original title sequence due to extreme fan backlash. The showrunners put out a public statement saying they hadn't realized how much fans considered the titles to be a part of the show's identity.
• The Cast Showoff: In "Countermeasures", Diahann Carroll and Matt Bomer doing a lovely rendition of "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", accompanied by Billy Dee Williams on the piano.
• Creator Couple: Tiffani Thiessen's husband, Brady Smith, guest stars in one episode.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • Tim Matheson both played the Villain of the Week for and directed "Withdrawal", the second season premiere.
  • Tim DeKay directed "Stealing Home" in the third season.
  • Andrew McCarthy, who played Vincent Adler, directed "Neighborhood Watch," also in the third season.
• Executive Meddling: Defied in Season 5 & 6. Tim DeKay and Matt Bomer are producers as well as the lead actors, so, after knowing the show for 4 years, would be less likely to make poor decisions for the show.
• Fake American:
  • Mancunian Marsha Thomason as Diana Barrigan, who incidentally goes undercover as a Mancunian for fellow Fake American Jayne Atkinson in "Deadline."
  • Recurring antagonist Matthew Keller speaks in an adenoidal Outer Boroughs New York accent, but is played by Scottish actor Ross McCall.
• Follow the Leader: With the success of Burn Notice, USA seems to like the motif of an exiled protagonist returning to his usual lifestyle. Also includes using terminology frequently used on NCIS (such as "Probie" and BOLO), which is frequently replayed on USA. However, to be fair, those are real phrases used by law enforcment. Other similarities are evident between Neal Caffrey's and Michal Westons' M.O.s - conning a bad guy to reveal his plans/hiding place/incriminating evidence and figuring out a "that's what I'd do" plan when trying to get inside the mind of an antagonist.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Tiffani Thiessen's pregnancy has been hidden very badly during season 2, with highly awkward use of warped green screens. They didn't bother with Marsha Thomson's pregnancy a few seasons later and just wrote it in.
• Hypothetical Casting: When Jeff Eastin put together a mock-up poster to pitch the show to USA, he used a photo of Denis Leary for Peter Burke and Leonardo DiCaprio for Neal Caffrey.
• Playing Against Type: Elizabeth Gillies as the very kind and friendly Chloe Woods, in contrast to her previous mean girl roles on 13 and Victorious.
• Production Posse: Hilarie Burton & Kevin Kilner previously played Peyton & Larry Sawyer on One Tree Hill - appropriately enough, Kilner’s appearance was in an episode featuring Burton as Sara Ellis.
• Reality Subtext:
  • Neal discussing the sudden availability of gay marriage with Diana has elements of this, as Matt Bomer is gay and Happily Married, and Marsha Thomason isn't gay.
  • "In The Red"the scam of the week involves exploiting foster kids. Mozzie really dislikes it because of his past in the foster system. Willie Garson, entirely by coincidence, has an adopted son.
• What Could Have Been: The original ending envisioned by Jeff Easton was altered after Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay shared their thoughts on how it should conclude:
  Jeff Eastin: I had a different ending [in which] Peter finally released Neal. This was going to be the moment when Neal has to decide what he’s going to do. And so he walked up to the Flatiron building in New York, and he’s tossing a coin. In one version, the coin lands heads, and he goes to the right and he gets in a limo with Mozzie and they go off to be the greatest criminals ever. And then we’re back with Neal, and he’s standing at that same intersection, tosses the coin and it comes up tails and he goes left and he goes to the FBI. We realize it’s a few years later and Neal’s taken over Peter’s job as head of the White Collar Crime division and he’s now an FBI agent and very happy. And then we come back to Neal, and he’s in that same spot. He tosses the coin and just before it lands, we go to black. We never know which choice he finally made.
• Word of God: Though the series finale is ambiguous about Neal’s choice between an honest life and returning to his con artist persona, Jeff Eastin has stated that the newspaper article about the Louvre is meant to imply that it is Neal’s next target. Furthermore, the Queen of Hearts that Mozzie left in the container is his way of telling Peter that he is en route to join Neal.

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