Summer TV Series - Graceland (updated)

Last week I attended a screening of Graceland with a live Q&A with the cast afterward.  It is the closest that I have gotten to attending a taping of SNL, as it was held in the storied Studio 8H. Graceland is a new series from White Collar creator Jeff Eastin and premieres on USA, June 6 at 10pm.  It is based on a real story of agents that lived together in the 1990's.

The premise: Six undercover agents from various agencies, FBI, DEA and Customs live together in one house in Southern California. Les Miserables, Gossip Girl) is assigned to the house and is to be mentored by the legendary Paul Briggs played by Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me, Grey's Anatomy).  The cast is rounded out by Vanessa Ferlito (CSI:NY), (who will one day be in the LifeTime movie based on Bethenny Frankel's life, not really but the look so alike see here and here), Manny Montana, Serinda Swan (Breakout Kings) and Brandon Jay McLaren (The Killing, Being Erica).
 Fresh out of Quantico, Mike Warren played by Aaron Tveit (

At the screening the show was well received, their were a lot of laughs, there was an easy playful banter in the show that viewers of White Collar would recognize.  Of course this being a show about undercover agents there are a lot of secrets in the house that are just waiting to be discovered.  The biggest one of all surrounding Agent Briggs and why he took a leave of absence from the FBI and how/why he returned all Zenned out.  This show could easily fall into a "let's test the rookie" weekly, but by the end we learned that there is more going on with Mike Warren than meets the eye, I won't spoil it for you.

All in all I think that the show is a nice addition to USA's stable of summer shows, it has a gorgeous cast (Sunjata!), luxe setting, a house on the beach and an element of danger, which is really the formula for a hit show on the network. It is a show that I'm willing to spend the summer with.