ABSTRACT
Legendary playwright John Guare wrote about an elaborate con perpetrated on a wealthy Manhattan couple in his masterpiece Six Degrees of Separation. Pulling off a long con requires patience, resourcefulness and the ability to talk and spin one's way out of trouble. The long con only sustains when doubters are turned into believers and the skeptical naysayers are discredited. There have been many memorable TV series that service the scam-of-the-week format, from Mission: Impossible to Charlie's Angels and Leverage. Sneaky Pete, created and executive produced by showrunner David Shore and Bryan Cranston, demonstrates how season-long mysteries, or "cons" in this case, can be pieced together episode to episode. The show's creators are Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, who previously wrote and produced The Accountant starring Ben Affleck. Their 2016 movie follows a high-functioning autistic math genius who uncooks the books for criminal organizations and has to stay one step ahead of the Treasury Department.
