‘White Collar,’ 9 tonight on USA
3 stars
Bottom line: A smart and witty drama sure to appeal to fans of such USA originals as “Burn Notice” and “Psych.” Try this one; I think you’ll like it.

Tim DeKay and Matthew Bomer in "White Collar" on USA.

Here’s my full review from today’s GO!

A crook, nabbed for his crimes, is forced to team up with an adversary to save himself. Been there: Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in “Catch Me If You Can.” Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in “48 Hrs.” Robert Wagner (and Cary Grant before him) in “It Takes a Thief”/”To Catch a Thief.”

And now, Matthew Bomer and Tim DeKay in USA’s “White Collar,” which manages to avoid a “done that” feeling despite its familiar premise. Bomer is master criminal Neal Caffrey, and DeKay is FBI agent Peter Burke, the only person who ever managed to catch Caffrey, in the smart and witty drama, making its debut tonight and sure to appeal to fans of such USA originals as “Burn Notice” and “Psych.”

The charms of “White Collar” are many, starting with Bomer, most recently seen as Bryce Larkin, who downloaded “the intersect” into his old college roommate friend and thus set the events of “Chuck” in motion.

As Caffrey, first seen shaving a shaggy beard en route to an escape from prison, Bomer is so devilishly handsome and suavely sophisticated, with just a touch of adorable puppy dog, that he’s impossible to resist — and that’s the point. Caffrey got by with all sorts of cons, we understand, because people believed and liked him.

Not Peter Burke, though. Our FBI guy is single-minded on the subject of Caffrey, even to the point of neglecting his gorgeous wife, Elizabeth, played by Tiffani Thiessen in wholesome, scrubbed-clean mode. Burke caught Caffrey once, and he’s called on to catch him again when Caffrey flees prison just four months before his scheduled release.

Why Caffrey escaped with such short time remaining is one of the central, ongoing plot points of “White Collar.” (Let’s just say there’s a woman involved.) But on his way back to the slammer, he pulls a crucial clue in another case out of his hat, leading Burke and the FBI to turn to him for help. If his assistance solves the case, he can stay out and work with Burke on the toughest problems; if not, he’s back in for the long haul — but seriously, that wouldn’t make for much of a series, would it?

DeKay has a familiar face from dozens of TV roles (he dated Julia Louis-Dreyfus on “The New Adventures of Old Christine”) but may be best known as Jonesy on HBO’s “Carnivale.” He gives Burke the requisite serious-mindedness of an FBI agent but is also open to the appeal of a good con, as pulled off by Caffrey. The attitude makes it clear, from early on, that this will be a buddy show, not an hour about adversaries.

“White Collar” also benefits from a rich and quirky supporting cast, including Willie Garson (”Sex and the City”) as Mozzley, Caffrey’s mysterious contact, and Diahann Carroll as June, a super-wealthy widow who lives in the most gorgeous mansion in New York City. What’s more, the series is actually shot in New York, not just set there, and gets both the glamour and the seediness — but especially the glamour — right.

There are cases to be solved in each episode, but if viewers finish the 90-minute opener and want to know more about Caffrey and Burke, executive producer Jeff Eastin will be happy.

“This really is a show about the two guys and their interaction,” he told TV critics this summer in Los Angeles. “This is not just a procedural cop show. We really get to dive in and discover things about these characters.”

Eastin makes no bones about his inspiration.

“I love the ’80s. I’m a huge fan of ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ ‘48 Hours.’ We thought this would be a really great opportunity to do (something like that) on a weekly basis.”

Plus, Eastin said, “I’ve always had this fascination with guys who can parachute into a foreign country in a pair of underwear and by the end of the night, they would be driving a Rolls-Royce and having dinner at the palace.”

He added, “I’m so not that guy.”