Must See TV: 'The Riches'

pettyfog · Mar 19, 2007

On FX, new every Monday 10 PM, 11Pm EST. Repeats various during week.

I normally watch FX for 'That 70's Show' reruns... I find their series tend to run from 'sick' to overly self-indulgent to mediocre.

I freakin' HATED 'The Shield'.. found the Dennis Leary series, 'Rescue Me', an exercise in self-abuse, and 'Dirt' is just, well, depressing.

But if you like Minnie Driver.. and I do.. and Eddie Izzard, then you'll like this. It's a winner!

And I agree with the SF Chronicle reviewer, 100%.

There is a dizzying array of strange and wonderful dramatic themes and virtuoso performances in the new FX series "The Riches," but your first reaction might be just to stare at it. "The Riches" is both unique and intoxicating -- and plenty more. But first, let's just stare at it, wonderstruck.

This is not a cinematic issue. While there's plenty to like visually, there are neater tricks in this show that leave one impressed -- agape, even. For starters, it's a drama about the Irish Travelers -- a secretive group of itinerant Americans frequently derided as thieving Gypsies.
.....
-- It's a show about "stealing the American dream." Which means it's about rogues and bold thinkers and crazy people and cynics and opportunists -- all under the banner of capitalism and the Constitution.

-- It's a fresh send-up of suburbia and class and their intertwined sociological issues.

-- It's a treatise on lying and stealing and the importance of family.

-- It's about square pegs and round holes and the tyranny of the mainstream.
Click to expand...

As opposed to...??? Well, I agree 99%, then.

-- It's a comedy.

-- It's a drama.
.....
"The Riches" is about the Malloys, a family of Irish Travelers in rural Louisiana who are very good at their game, which is the con. Any con. Wayne (Izzard) is first glimpsed going over a plan with his kids: motivated daughter Di Di (Shannon Woodward), jaded son Cael (Noel Fisher) and somewhat naive but exceptionally bright Sam (Aidan Mitchell), the youngest boy, who likes to dress up as a girl. They are on the road to pick up their mother, Dahlia (Driver), who has just spent two years in prison for a con gone wrong. Inside she's picked up a cough syrup habit. And she's a little angry.

Now, there's a lot to mine right there in "The Riches," and odds are you'll be hooked by the Irish Traveler mystique in much the same way HBO's "Big Love" had a unique conceit -- polygamy -- that had enough rituals and quirks to keep the uninitiated fascinated before realizing that there were plenty of other dramatic elements to keep the series afloat. (Strange that "Big Love" star Bill Paxton was the lead in the movie "Traveller.")

But "The Riches" ups the value of the premise by adding a twist -- there's a brutal accident that leaves a man and his wife dead. Their BMW is run off the road. She dies instantly. He's impaled on a tree limb. It's not the Malloys' fault, but they rush to help. Then Wayne discovers an envelope in the BMW. It contains a house key and a letter. The couple -- a lawyer and his wife, named Doug and Cherien Rich -- were moving to Louisiana from Florida and had bought a beautiful house in a gated community. The lawyer bought the house on the Internet. Nobody's ever seen him in Louisiana. You can probably guess what Wayne dreams up next.

But it's not that easy -- nor should it be. Good drama needs tension, and there's plenty of it in "The Riches." Wayne, the best con man anywhere, is looking for an exit. But Dahlia's a parolee who's living in a dead man's house, and she's restless. Besides, she comes from one of the major Irish Traveler families and prefers that nomadic lifestyle, as do their kids. The kids have so totally bought into the us-versus-them mentality that suburbia seems more frightening and stupid than attractive. The rest of the family wants to take advantage of "buffers" -- regular, law-abiding folks -- rather than live like them.
...
There's much to love and gawk at in "The Riches," and one of the most underappreciated elements will certainly be the amazingly nuanced tone. At its core, "The Riches" is a comedy. It's breezy and sly and ridiculous. But the series shifts effortlessly into dramatic terrain and then back out again. You almost don't notice. That's both good writing and good acting. And the drama in "The Riches" is not derived merely from fear of being caught but also from the internal struggle of the characters to come to terms with their place in the wider world.
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Yep... there's more to it. The 'family' is trying to track them down because Wayne stole 40,000 of the their money, and the older daughter had been promised to the oafish, apparently retarded son of the other side of the clan.

There's some other good characters in support, too.
Click to watch the Trailer

You missed the pilot, but tonight's episode will repeat Tuesday midnight and Sunday at 11PM.

KentuckyBlue · Mar 20, 2007

RE: Must See TV:

I'll give it a shot tonight, you caught me just in time for the midnight showing. FX has easily become my favorite cable network, with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Rescue Me.

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Must See TV: 'The Riches'

pettyfog Well-Known Member

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Must See TV: 'The Riches'

pettyfog Well-Known Member

KentuckyBlue New Member

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