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Ellen Gray: USA Network's summer offerings entertaining, not too heavy

WHITE COLLAR. 9 tonight, USA. COVERT AFFAIRS. 10 tonight, USA. SOMEWHERE BETWEEN "Law & Order" and "Lost," there lies a genre I've come to think of as Conspiracy Lite.

Piper Perabo starts in "Covert Affairs" on USA Network.
Piper Perabo starts in "Covert Affairs" on USA Network.Read more

WHITE COLLAR. 9 tonight, USA.

COVERT AFFAIRS. 10 tonight, USA.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN "Law & Order" and "Lost," there lies a genre I've come to think of as Conspiracy Lite.

You may think of it as simply USA Network, as in the NBC Universal cable channel that's home to shows like "Burn Notice," "Royal Pains," "Psych" and "White Collar," gently serialized fare that mixes mystery and humor with offbeat leads and isn't likely to send anyone back to Philosophy 101 to brush up on Locke, Rousseau and Hume.

Not that there's anything wrong with a show that makes you wish you'd paid more attention in school.

Except that it's summer, "Lost" is truly lost and those of us who stuck with it mostly for its heart-rending characters, not its mind-bending plot lines, may be able to make do for a bit with the only slightly tortured types that USA serves up.

But with the notable exception of "In Plain Sight's" splendidly bitter Deputy U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) - who, if we're being honest, seems more like a TNT girl anyway - most of the quirky main characters USA's so eager to welcome to its original series have so far been male.

The gender ratio shifts a bit tonight, as USA launches "Covert Affairs," a stylish spy drama starring Jennifer Garner lookalike Piper Perabo as a CIA newbie who's herself so stylish she wears Christian Louboutin heels and can pass for a high-priced D.C. call girl without so much as refreshing her lipstick.

Which makes "Covert Affairs" the perfect chaser for "White Collar," which returns for Season 2 tonight with well-dressed parolee-about-town Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) back where he started, after the deal that freed him from his ankle bracelet and was to reunite him with his mysterious girlfriend literally blew up in his face in the show's Season 1 finale in March.

We should be sad for Neal, who's supposedly lost the love of his life - I only say supposedly because you can't always believe what you see on "White Collar" - but, hey, he still has Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), and the bro-mance between the art thief and his by-the-book FBI handler is still the best reason to watch this show.

Peter, whose wife, Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) seems destined to be out of town or seen only briefly (and from the neck up) for much of the first half of the season to accommodate the actress' maternity leave, is also beginning to bond with Neal's friend Mozzie (Willie Garson), a squirrelly con artist who really does seem to have Neal's best interests at heart and may be willing to meet Peter halfway.

Which doesn't mean he doesn't still get twitchy around feds.

Tim Matheson, who guest-stars in tonight's "White Collar," directed the premiere of "Covert Affairs," where we meet Annie Walker (Perabo), a CIA trainee who's unexpectedly asked to handle an information swap with a foreign operative, an assignment that naturally involves dressing like a hooker.

A hooker who makes a bit more than whatever the CIA starting salary is.

Is this really the kind of thing the CIA needs to use a not-quite-trained operative for? Or is there another reason Annie's been called up to the majors early? One involving an ex-boyfriend?

Could there be, ahem, a conspiracy of some sort?

Perabo's been surrounded by actors who know how to make the most of this silliness, including Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett as Annie's warring bosses, who happen to be married to each other, Christopher Gorham ("Ugly Betty") as a blind CIA employee who sees things his sighted colleagues miss and Anne Dudek ("Big Love," "House") as Annie's older sister, who's letting little sis crash in her Georgetown guesthouse.

But it's Perabo, as an endearing overachiever who thinks on her well-shod feet, who makes "Covert Affairs" such an entertaining ride.

If you're as happy as I am about the return of "White Collar," you'll probably want to stick around at 10 to meet the new kid on the USA Network block.

'Glades' draws 3.6M

Sunday's premiere of A&E's "The Glades" averaged 3.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched scripted drama episode in the cable network's history, according to A&E.

'Rookie Blue' renewed

ABC and Canwest yesterday announced they had picked up the Canadian-produced "Rookie Blue" for a second season, which will begin production later this summer and will most likely air on ABC next summer. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.