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February 10, 2012
 
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MinnieDriver

Review: 'Modern Family' - 'Moon Landing'

by Jason Hughes, posted Feb 4th 2010 2:22AM

The Dunphys, 'Modern Family'(S01E14) Sometimes I wonder if I could just write up a review of 'Modern Family' by listing all of the great quotes that come out of this show. Line for line, this has to be one of the cleverest series on television today. Even the episode title, 'Moon Landing,' recalls a great moment.

The action this week was split between Jay and Cameron heading off to the gym to play racquetball, Mitchell helping Gloria with a traffic-related legal problem, and Claire's reunion with an old work colleague from before Claire became a stay-at-home mom. Minnie Driver was well cast as the friend, Valerie, but her performance was completely overshadowed by the brilliance of the episode itself.

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FX cancels The Riches

by Joel Keller, posted Oct 8th 2008 9:03AM

The RichesThe Riches was one of those shows that suffered from the p-word: potential. With an interesting story -- a family of Travelers settle into a stolen life as an upper-middle-class suburban family -- and excellent acting performances from Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, the show had the same breakout potential as any of FX's other dramas.

But the show's potential was never realized, either creatively or in the ratings. The show always had trouble balancing dark comedy and intense drama, and it strained to make the audience care about the Malloys, who were dealing with the consequences of stealing the American Dream. At the end of its aborted second season, FX had not committed either way to bringing the show back. Well, now we know: Mike Ausiello of EW confirmed yesterday that The Riches has been cancelled.

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The Riches: The Lying King (season finale)

by Brett Love, posted Apr 30th 2008 8:22AM

Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard - The Riches(S02E07) I debated whether or not I should follow that post title up with a "kind of" or an "unfortunately." Because really, it is unfortunate that season two was cut short by the strike. If we were gearing up to watch the next six episodes of season two, this would have been a pivotal episode.

With Dahlia's breakdown, Didi rebelling against her father, and the growing tension between Wayne and Quinn, things are building nicely. As a season finale though, I'm left feeling disappointed. Still, "The Lying King" did offer up some good bits to the story. More on that, after the jump.
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The Riches: Dead Caelm

by Brett Love, posted Apr 23rd 2008 8:43AM

Minnie Driver and Eddie Ezzard(S02E06) Here we are, with the next to last episode of the season, and I found it just a little strange. Perhaps I was reading too much into the fact that there is only one more episode to go. Or, perhaps the strike just did more damage to the flow of the season than I am giving credit for. But this didn't feel like an episode setting us up for a big conclusion/cliff hanger. I'm left thinking there are a whole lot of irons in that fire that need to be dealt with next week. While it wasn't what I expected, there were some very interesting developments in Eden Falls this week.
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The Riches: Trust Never Sleeps

by Brett Love, posted Apr 16th 2008 8:39AM

Toby Huss - The Riches
(S02E05) Right about now, some of the Malloys should probably be having some second thoughts about returning to Eden Falls. The lure of big money is hard to resist, but it's certainly not going to be easy money. The dark turn to their adventure continues in episode five as we find Dahlia continuing to struggle with her new triple life, Pete causing more trouble for Wayne, and young Cael striking out and getting some story all his own.
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The Riches: Slums of Bayou Hills

by Joel Keller, posted Apr 8th 2008 11:03PM

The Riches(S02E04) Use any cliché you want: this is the episode where the chickens come home to roost, the shit hits the fan, the bill comes due, the Malloys have to pay the piper, etc. etc. What we do know at the end of this episode is that Wayne is starting to get in over his head, and even he knows that his conning skills are only going to get him so far. He's been able to dig himself and his family out of the messes they've created to this point, but this one is a doozy. Not only is he going up against a guy that's probably an even bigger con artist than he is, but also this guy doesn't have any semblance of a conscience. Talk about a deadly combination.

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The Riches: Field of Dreams

by Joel Keller, posted Apr 1st 2008 11:06PM

The Riches: Field of Dreams(S02E03) Well, the Malloys are back in Eden Falls, living life as the Riches. And all hell's about to break loose.

That's the situation we have in this episode. Wayne's trying to keep the big deal Hugh brokered alive while Hugh searches for his mojo. Dale is stalking around Panco looking for a job so he can be in on the deal. Only we know that the lummox has some information and a hell of a lot of muscle behind him. And Dahlia is having yet another crisis involving her sense of place in the world. Oh, and then we have the kids: Cael wants out, DiDi wants to fit in, and Sam wonders why there's blood stains on the stairs.

Looks like we're entering the darkest part of the tunnel in this show, aren't we?
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The Riches: Friday Night Lights

by Joel Keller, posted Mar 25th 2008 11:03PM

The Riches: Friday Night Lights(S02E02) For the second week in a row, Wayne spends most of the episode separated from the rest of his family, cleaning up the messes he got in at the end of the first season. In fact, we're pretty much where we left off in last week's season premiere, with Wayne trying to figure out what to do with Hugh and Dale while also trying to figure out how to dispose of poor Pete. Meanwhile, Dahlia, Nina, and the kids try to steal a van but are caught by a stressed out man with a big gun and an itchy trigger finger.

What this sets up is, in a lot of ways, a "scam of the week" episode, something we saw a lot of last season. But I get the feeling this might be the last one we see for a while, mainly because the "big scam," which is Hugh's massive development deal, is going to swallow up not only the Malloys, but everyone around them.
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The Riches: The Last Temptation of Wayne (season premiere)

by Joel Keller, posted Mar 18th 2008 11:03PM

The Riches: The Last Temptation of Wayne(S02E01) As much as I liked the first season of The Riches, I thought the show had a couple of basic flaws. First, it seemed like too many episodes were about the con of the week rather than the "big con," which was the Malloys trying to pass for the Riches. But the most fundamental flaw of the entire first season was that, well... we just didn't find enough of a reason to like the Malloys. As despicable as the characters around them in Eden Falls were, we still felt that they were the victims of this family of Irish Travelers stealing the American Dream.

I think Dimitry Lipkin realized this, as the abbreviated second season of The Riches brings us a number of seedy characters that are so heinous that it makes the Malloys look like heroes. The season premiere just sets the table for what's to come.

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The Riches: Waiting for Dogot (season finale)

by Brett Love, posted Jun 5th 2007 7:08AM

Eddie Izzard, Minnie Driver
(S01E13) Well, there you have it. The big finale for the first season of The Riches. The thing that strikes me about the season is how much it was not what I was expecting. What we ended up seeing was very different than what the promotion FX tossed out all those months ago led one to expect. And I think that was a good thing.

This was a much darker show than those voiced over commercials with Wayne and Dahlia walking down the staircase hinted at. The Malloy family has some serious issues. But at the end of the day, they are a family, and that drives everything they do.

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The Riches: It's A Wonderful Lie

by Brett Love, posted May 29th 2007 10:22AM

Julie Ann Emery(S01E12) With just one episode to go in the season, the dominoes have started to fall. We've seen the Malloy family wriggle their way out of some tight spots. After this episode, you really have to wonder just how they are going to do it again. Some kind of a showdown with Dale was inevitable from the get go, but the new twists with Nina and Pete really add fuel to the fire.

Give the writers credit for some nice planning with Pete (Arye Gross). Cael found the emails from him early on and I had wondered if and when they were going to deal with that. Wayne's plan to just play dumb seemed a little crazy, but what other option did they really have? It did make for quite the crazy scene for the "Mont Pierres."

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The Riches: This Is Your Brain On Drugs

by Brett Love, posted May 15th 2007 10:22AM

eddie izzard, the riches(S01E10) The fallout from the dinner party in "Cinderella" hit this week, and it made for one crazy ride. This is also the episode that switched my thinking from "Eddie Izzard, the comic, is doing a great job as Wayne" to, "Eddie Izzard is an actor." The writers heaped a heavy load on his back this week and he answered with what was an amazing performance.

Things got off to a great start with Wayne and Dahlia's fight over the drugs that Chunky left behind. It's interesting that he walked in on her before she could decide which way she was going. I think that she would have flushed the stuff eventually, but we'll never know for sure. The chaotic argument after Wayne snorted a handful of the crank was fantastic. Dahlia's reaction, "Of all the assholic things you have done, this is the most assholic." summed it up nicely. That was such a crazy thing to do that it warranted brand new words to describe it.

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The Riches: X Spots the Mark

by Brett Love, posted May 1st 2007 9:23AM

Clancy Brown(S01E08) I remember thinking after episode two that it was good, but mostly setup for the good stuff that would eventually come along as we follow the Malloy's story. With the return to traveler camp last week, and the big scam this week, that setup has really started to pay off.

This episode is very much what I envisioned when we first met the family. It's a classic con, with all manner of stumbling blocks along the way. And each of those is handled creatively by the ever inventive team Malloy. If that wasn't good enough, how about a little Clancy Brown to go with it?

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The Riches: Reckless Gardening

by Joel Keller, posted Apr 17th 2007 12:32AM

Shannon Woodward of The Riches(S01E06) Last week, we found out two things about the Malloys and their life as the Riches: 1) Wayne is going to have to do more than BS if he's going to survive as a Panco lawyer, and 2) life as a buffer is more trouble than anyone expected it to be. This week, we see the noose starting to tighten around the Malloys, as more and more pieces of the Traveller life are seeping in to their Eden Falls existence. And, unfortunately for Di Di, those pieces are flying around and smacking her square in the face.

Di Di is certainly becoming the most level-headed of the family, isn't she? At first, I thought it would be Cael, because I thought he had the smarts to protect his family from getting caught. But, of course, a girl got in the way. But it seems pretty unfair that because Cael managed to get tailed by Ginny that Di Di has to pay for it by being "engaged" to Ken the dipweed.

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The Riches: The Big Floss

by Brett Love, posted Apr 10th 2007 9:30AM

minnie driver(S01E05) Last week I mentioned that the scene with Doug trying to handle the Homeowners against Panco didn't work for me. This week, Wayne's Doug stuff worked much better. The show needed Wayne to be put in his place. This is not an easy thing he is trying to do, and he's not going to be able to just bullshit his way out of every situation.

There was some great tension as the opposing attorneys continued to reference case after case, all of them going right over Wayne's head. I was wondering, how can they possibly get him out of this. And I was as surprised as everyone in that room when he just went to sleep. It was interesting how that move was deemed something of a cop-out by the rest of the family. What I really liked about it was that Hugh didn't buy into it for a second. His 48 hour deadline is the kind of thing I want to see. A little pressure for Wayne.

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