Tim DeKay on Million-Dollar Chandeliers, Tell Me You Love Me and White Collar's Capers

Characters matter as much as the slickly maneuvered capers and gorgeous Manhattan townhouses in USA's White Collar, which returns tonight for its second season. In the comedy-drama, Tim DeKay stars as brilliant FBI agent Peter Burke, who's responsible for convincing Matthew Bomer's con man character Neal Caffrey to continually use his forging knowledge for good, not evil. Throughout the process, the cop and criminal inevitably learn a lot about themselves, and as DeKay told Movieline last week, he's learned plenty from his cable experience, too -- including a new eye for interior decoration.

DeKay rang us up to discuss the pleasures of guest star work (including his character "Bizarro Jerry" on Seinfeld), his role on the sexually charged Tell Me You Love Me, and the one intimate scene he'd love to share with Matthew Bomer.

USA markets White Collar, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains as "guilty pleasure" programming. What do you think that means?

It's interesting. There are these shows out there right now like Breaking Bad and Dexter that have characters on the edge. Certainly, [White Collar] has that too, but it's fun. It's fun to see Neal and Peter try to solve a case each week -- or a caper, as I like to call it. It's just fun fare. Not every episode has violence, which I also think is kind of nice.

Do you think the fun that viewers have is directly related to the amount of fun you're having as an actor in those scenes?

I think that's part of it. Also, I think [creator] Jeff Eastin and the writers have created a great sense of levity to all of this. It always starts with the writers and fortunately, we carry that in the studio and on set as well.

There are so many badges on television these days. Did you feel pressure when you first signed onto White Collar to make your character unique?

I didn't feel pressure in that regard. What I thought, honestly, was how liberating it is to play somebody within the law that is not somebody that is by-the-book or constantly in their office. Viewers also get to go home with him and learn about Peter's relationship with his wife, which is rare. I think this character is great because you see that he doesn't trust Neal completely but he likes the guy and can't help but enjoy chasing bad guys with him. They both respect each other immensely too. Peter recognizes that Neal loves the chase as much as he does.

Before White Collar, you spent five years with HBO on shows like Carnivàle and Tell Me You Love Me. What was the biggest adjustment for you as an actor when you transitioned from premium cable to cable?

The biggest change that I have seen is just that at HBO, we would shoot the entire season before they aired it. HBO was more concerned about the arc of the entire season before it was shared with an audience. Things move a little faster here on cable, but Carnivàle was a big show with a big cast -- a period piece. We would shoot anywhere from nine to eleven days on an episode like that. With White Collar, we only shoot seven days.

Shooting inside those amazing New York City townhomes seems like such a privilege.

It's amazing. Just when you think you have seen every gorgeous multimillion dollar townhouse in New York, production finds a new one -- with a million dollar chandelier that hangs down from the entire length of the stairwell, from the sixth floor all the way down to the entrance. It's just incredible how many beautiful, glamorous homes we have gotten to see.

Does the cast and crew ever interact with the owners?

Sometimes, but they're not usually there. We're certainly respectful of their homes, but they get nervous that one of us will bang up against a $400,000 painting.

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