Family Man With One Foot In Mafia

(CBS)  If you think The Sopranos cornered the market on mafia television dramas, fugeddabowdit. Tonight, CBS presents Falcone from 9 to 11 p.m. EDT, followed by nightly hour-long installments at 10 p.m. through April 12, skipping only Sunday, April 9.

Based on the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, which in turn drew on the exploits of 28-year FBI veteran Joe Pistone, Falcone casts Jason Gedrick in a double role. He is Joe Pistone - working man, husband and father. He is also the make-believe Joe Falcone, a jewel thief from Florida who has penetrated deep into Brooklyn's powerful Volonte crime family.

Pistone himself serves as technical consultant for Falcone, and Gedrick tells Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson that he has helped the actor play his role better.

"I found it most helpful to talk with Joe and learn the particulars of emotion that he went through," explains Gedrick. "There's a range of tipping your hand, from being challenged. You have to defend yourself and rise to the occasion or you'll be suspect. And there are times when very valuable information is bandied about, and you have to take it all in. And there's the strain with his family life."

In the show, Gedrick has a wife (played by Amy Carlson) and two daughters. In real life, the 33-year-old actor counts time spent with his family (including two sons) as one of his favorite activities.

In the first few episodes, Falcone reaffirms his usefulness to "Sonny Boy" Napoli (played by Titus Welliver), a newly appointed "captain" of the family. But there's never a moment when Falcone can let down his guard, not under the skeptical eye of Sonny's henchmen, "Jimmy Suits" (Sonny Marinelli) and "Lucky" Fema (Lillo Brancato, Jr.).

If Gedrick looks familiar to TV fans, it's no wonder. His first major role was as a bad guy in Murder One. More recently, he has been seen as Ally McBeal's love partner at the car wash and in pivotal roles in the CBS miniseries The Last Don and its sequel.

His first acting role was as an extra in Bad Boys, a 1983 movie that starred Sean Penn. As it turned out, Penn guided Gedrick to an acting school in Los Angeles.

[For more about Falcone, click here.]