Well, would you look at that — another poll with Neal Caffrey as a choice! I was really trying to organize a poll that had Michael Westen as a choice, since Burn Notice‘s fourth season premieres tomorrow. But how, I ask you, how can one design a poll to unearth CliqueClack’s favorite TV conman and leave out White Collar‘s Neal Caffrey? Can’t be done, I tell ya.
Neal Caffrey cons just about everyone he comes into contact with — Peter and his landlady included. How he does it with such style and finesse while actually not hurting anyone is beyond my comprehension, yet he pulls it off week after week.
I’ve always loved a good heist, con, what have you, and my favorite classic cons have got to go to Leverage‘s Nate Ford and his team. They even have names for the con jobs they pull. Besides, I can’t imagine anyone else can work the disguises quite like Nate and friends.
Michael Westen from Burn Notice also has a little help from his friends, but this guy’s badass through and through. No one would argue that Neal or Nate are in the least bit bad, let alone ass. His cons are always accompanied by shots fired, punches thrown and a very humiliated mark.
Three very different conmen, all so much fun.
So who didn’t make the cut? If you’re a regular reader, you know that Bob will never really get over the series finale of Lost. If I were a lesser writer, I might even say he’s Lost without it … but in his words: “Sawyer from Lost is probably a stretch at this point.” Yes, yes he is.
Michael also had a nomination which is hard to argue with: “I’m thinkin’ Jay Leno has just about everyone beat. I’m just sayin’….”
Feel free to weigh in with a comment and be sure to vote for your favorite TV conman:
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 02, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Gotta be Nathan Ford. Westen as a “con man” is a little bit of a stretch, as I think it’s just a means to an end, and he’d just as well use brute force if he had to. The other guys are pure con.
Shawn – Psych.
*POST AUTHOR*
Ah, my esteemed colleague Bob thought that would make a good choice in the poll too — I should have included it!
Shawn from Psych- definitely. He has everyone fooled.
On your List have to go with Michael Weston, but personally the best conman on TV is Mickey Stone on Hustle. Hands down Best.
*POST AUTHOR*
This one came up too, but we stuck to just current shows to keep it simple. Now Hustle is a virgin diary I should plan on doing!
Hustle isn’t over. They have announced production of a 7th series for the BBC but they have not announced an air date yet. I also vote for Mickey Stone.
After a bit of quick review, I’m still stickin’ with Leno.
He conned us before … he conned us during … and he’s still a’connin’ us right this very moment.
The dude is good. Really good …..
Hmmmm…. S1 Nate Ford, or S2 Nate Ford??
:)
Definitely makes a difference. And, he is more of a member of a con team then I see him as a con man himself. While, Caffrey is definitely a con man in his own right.
I agree with Keith on Westen–A great, and favorite character of mine; but, I don’t consider him a con man in the classic sense of the others. All of the others listed are very, very good. Certainly Shawn of Psych has to be among the group. I still go with Michael that Leno is the best–he is doing it in real-life, without outside script writters, and has a large number of people fooled–some good guy–LOL.
I gotta go with Michael even though he’s not really a conman. Can’t say much about Nathan since I’m not familiar with him but I’m comparing Neal to Michael and to be honest, Westen would wipe the floor with Caffrey. Michael was actually trained and paid to do the spy gig for 20 years, Neal? Well he may be good but you could tell he learned by himself and hasn’t had anywhere near the experience that Michael had in lying.
So I vote for Michael, but I love both characters!