Every time you think the networks are pulling into the lead in the race against cable, FX puts out a new show, and embarrasses everyone. This station has been the home of some of cable television's best programming for a few years now and continues to set the bar higher for the networks.
FX has the best police drama with "The Shield," the best tragicomic post-Sept. 11 serial with "Rescue Me," the best comedy with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and now it introduces "The Riches," the best pilot to air this year.
Dahlia (Minnie Driver) and Wayne (Eddie Izzard, someone not usually known for his acting ability) star as a couple of traveling grifters, specifically known as "Irish Travelers," who are raising three children. Wayne and Dahlia belong to a huge community of Irish Travelers, which is an Irish minority group much like Eastern European Gypsies, in the American South.
When Dahlia's cousin (the son of the community's aging and impotent patriarch) declares that her daughter is to be married off to a member of another clan in order to solidify her clan's power, Dalia's husband Wayne decides it's time to grab some money and bolt.
Soon enough, Wayne and Dahlia are the Riches, living in a gated community with a golf membership. They decide to live there as a regular family (a "buffer"), rather than continuing their lives as con artists.
There have been those who have compared the show to "Six Feet Under" for its mixing of comedy and tragedy. Actually, it's much better than "Six Feet Under" was when it started, because the characters are already likable - we don't need to wait for Keith to get David to calm down or for James Cromwell to join the cast.
The thing is that "The Riches" is not really a tragicomedy at all - it's just the story of realistic people.
As Wayne, Eddie Izzard is thoroughly likable and charming, but occasionally serious-minded. Driver's Dahlia frequently clashes with him, but the love between them is palpable - it is probably some of the most affecting and believable romance between two characters onscreen since "Brokeback Mountain" (2005).
There are those who would also compare the show to HBO's "Big Love." On both shows, a man has married a woman with familial ties to a cult-like community. When the man tries to break these ties, his wife gets upset.
Superficially, that may be true, but here again, "The Riches" pulls far ahead. Unlike "Big Love," where Nikki is one of three wives and tends to be primarily concerned with doing dishes and how to share marital responsibilities, Dahlia is a fully developed person who is allowed to be an equal partner with her husband.
Wayne's unilateral decision to move his family away from the Irish Travelers isn't met with quiet seething and yelling at children; it's met with complete disapproval and eventual abandonment with two of their children (the children, by the way, are also excellently developed characters with minds of their own).
In the first episode, Wayne is challenged to a game of golf with Gregg Henry of "Gilmore Girls." He has trouble setting his ball on the tee; pretending to be Mr. Rich may be his undoing. He then lets loose with a terrific swing that lands the ball on the green.
Here we are reminded of something that will likely continue throughout the series: that Wayne and Dahlia (and their children) are con artists and they probably possess a huge and surprising skill set. It is details like this that make a show about a family from a cult of grifters living in the house of a dead couple that nobody met so believable. It is the characters' relationships that make the show so affecting, and it is the humor that makes the show so likable. This show has nearly everything you could want out of good television, and it's on the best television station.
