Marsha Thomason plays a gay junior agent on "White Collar"

Several readers alerted us to the fact that there's a lesbian character on the new USA series White Collar. The show, which debuted Oct. 23, focuses on the partnership between a con artist named Neal (Matt Bomer) and an FBI agent (Tim Dekay) who work together to solve crimes.

Marsha Thomason (Las Vegas, Lost) plays Diana Lancing, a junior agent who explicitly implied on the pilot that she played for our team, though only through dialogue from other characters.

In the most telling scene, Neal asks Diana to get him some coffee and she says "Neal, the coffee shop is downstairs." Then Burke and Neal exchange the following:

Burke: You are way out of your league.
Neal: Oh harmless flirting. It's like a dance.
Burke: There is no dance. You're not even on her dance card. No dancing for you.
Neal: Um, she digs the hat.
Burke: She'd rather be wearing the hat.

The show is scheduled for 13 episodes in its first season, but it's unclear as to how regular of a character Diana will be. The only regular female character is Agent Burke's wife, Elizabeth, played by Tiffani Theissen (Saved by the Bell, 90210). And since she's no stranger to kissing women on screen, perhaps her character and Diana's will hit it off.

The White Collar pilot is replaying on USA several times this week and new episodes air every Friday. I strongly hope they will continue to expand on the character of Diana.