Someone recently asked me what’s good to watch on TV, and I drew a blank – a big, honking blank. What was exciting me at the moment? The answer came clear when I realized I had not watched several recorded episodes of The Riches, which recently returned for its second season on FX.
The premise couldn’t sound more preposterous: A family of “travelers” (i.e., con artists) assumes the identity of the Riches after that family is killed in a car accident on the way to a new home in a new community where no one knows them. At first, it’s just going to be a short-term “bleed,” but Dad (the extraordinary Eddie Izzard as Wayne Malloy, aka Doug Rich) keeps ratcheting it up a notch in his quest to “steal the American dream.”
The first season was mostly watching the family work the con – including the kids, who are accomplished grifters, too. There was a mixture of humor and anxiety watching the Malloys/Riches work their way around their fictional lives but, more importantly, trying to fit into the considerably more affluent lifestyle they stumbled upon. It was a sharp learning curve, full of nerve-racking and comically close calls. This season, the series has gotten a little darker. Another innocent person has gotten killed, and the kids are losing patience with the con, eager to leave the “buffer” lifestyle behind – well, only when it comes to school. They love their iPods, Jacuzzi, and warm beds just fine. Doug Rich has managed to convince everyone he’s a lawyer – a joke that gains some punch when he manages to wheel and deal with a room of real cutthroat lawyers. Smooth talking, quick thinking, and with a growing desperation to keep up the con, Doug is starting to build a wedge between him and his wife, Dahlia (Minnie Driver), who is also tiring of the con and struggles daily with a substance-abuse problem.
Now into its fourth episode, the second season is picking up steam again. Dahlia suspects that Wayne is not being truthful with her; their son Cael gets kicked out of his elite high school for breaking and entering, while daughter Di Di can’t stand her mean-girl classmates. Sam, the youngest, wants to stay put and may end up being the deciding factor when push comes to shove.
Haven’t seen The Riches? Not to worry. The first season is now available on DVD. The new episodes of the second season are now showing, free of charge, on Hulu.com. The Riches airs Tuesdays at 9pm on FX.
There was a second gem recorded on my DVR. The very funny Miss Guided. Judy Greer stars as Becky Freeley, who relives her old anxieties as a geeky teenager at her former high school, where she now works as a guidance counselor. Greer has a number of credits, but I still have fond memories of her as Kitty Sanchez, George Bluth’s petulant secretary/lover on Arrested Development (Fox). In Miss Guided, Greer’s Becky is perpetually perky as she deals with troubled students and a hostile faculty. Just like in high school, Becky pines for the hot guy (the Spanish teacher), who only sees her as his buddy. The “will he/won’t he fall for Becky?” is the least interesting element of this show. How she navigates between the students and the grownup versions of themselves among the faculty is the real hoot. Miss Guided airs Thursdays at 7pm on ABC. Watch past episodes on ABC.com.
Bulletin Board
Filmmakers: Boston’s WGBH Lab is teaming with P.O.V. for a special election-year project. The Lab has issued a call for pitches for short films about the 2008 election. Selected filmmakers will receive $2,000 to make their shorts, with possible broadcast on PBS (presumably on P.O.V., the documentary series that airs on PBS). More information can be found at lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008.
It’s officially official! Friday Night Lights has been picked up for another season. (See “Film News,” for more on the deal NBC struck with DirecTV to keep FNL alive.)
Attention, fans of The Closer: The crime drama doesn’t return for a new season until July, but fans are invited to take a behind-the-scenes look at how the show is coming together in a series of specially produced online segments at www.tnt.tv. Launched last Monday, the segments feature interviews with series producers and footage of the writers’ room, where you can watch writers and producers discuss story ideas. Call me crazy, but I think this would be a lot more fun if there were actual interaction between those who watch and those who are being watched.
As always, stay tuned.
This article appears in April 11 • 2008.