minniedriver

(S01E04) With episode four we were treated to a nice balance of the season long arc and the single episode story. I'm really looking forward to seeing Dale come knocking on the Riches front door, hopefully looking like Nicholson in The Shining, but we all know we are going to have to wait for that. That's fine though, because there are plenty of other tales to tell.

Jolinda, for instance. This was good, although it didn't go down at all how I expected. Having seen it hinted at in the promos for weeks, I was pretty sure that she was going to show up to meet Doug in person. And almost convinced of it when Hugh pointed out to Wayne that ex-wives always find you. Having Wayne and Dahlia head that one off at the pass actually worked out even better though.

One of the things I noticed when I watched last week's pilot of The Riches was that Eddie Izzard was struggling to maintain an American accent of any kind, much less the southern accent that his character, Wayne Malloy, is likely to have.

But when I watched last night's episode (Brett and I are trading off reviews on this show), I noticed that Izzard's accent had smoothed out, and his British didn't seep out as much as it did in the first episode. This is no small feat; doing an accurate American accent is extremely difficult for Brits, as the many tiny differences between how each country speaks English are tough to keep track of. The effort to make the leap has sunk many accomplished British actors; even ones who do a reasonable job, like Emma Thompson, let their native accents leak through every so often.

(S01E02) This week the Malloy family continues their transition into their new lives. The episode felt like a part two to the premiere as it ended with a bit of resolution for everyone, finally acknowledging that they are really going to do this. Now that they have committed, we can move forward with the story and let the drama and hijinks begin.

We'll get to all of that in the coming weeks though. For now, there are setup fish to fry. For me, the best part of this episode was how they showed each of the characters dealing with all of these changes. Of those, I thought Dahlia's story was the most interesting. The burying of the money and the towing of the RV both served to show hard it is for Dahlia to let go of her old life.

The numbers are in and The Riches is off to a nice start for FX. The 3.8 million viewers more than doubled the best Monday night at 10 the network has ever had. That was also slightly better than the premieres of Nip/Tuck and Dirt, but fell short of The Shield, Rescue Me, and Over There. In the 18-49 demo, the news was even better. The Riches ranks as the number two premiere, trailing only The Shield.

Of course, it remains to be seen how things hold up moving forward. I thought the premiere was very good, but it didn't match the advertising that led up to it. The show had a much darker, more serious tone than those commercials where we saw Wayne and Dahlia walking down the stairs pondering their new life. I'll be interested to see if that turned off any of those 3.8 million viewers.

FX continues to roll out edgy new dramas and comedies. Next up is The Riches, which premieres Monday at 10PM ET. But you can watch the entire pilot now at AOL Television.

The show stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as the parents of a family of con-artist grifters. It starts off with Minnie Driver's character, Dahlia Malloy, getting released from jail after two years. The Malloys roam around in their RV, looking for ways to scam "buffers" (regular people), until an accident gives them a chance to live the American Dream.

Now after the missteps of Dirt, I was initially wary of The Riches. But the pilot is very promising and reminds me of Six Feet Under in some ways.

Check back to TV Squad for a review of the premiere sometime soon.

We at TV Squad have been getting an outpouring of questions about Eddie Izzard all day. Three separate Internet sources (that I know about and as of this writing) are claiming that the famously funny British actor/comedian has quit the cast of 24. He did one day of filming before the split. Apparently, Izzard is filming his own TV series now with Minnie Driver. It is called The Riches. According to these sources, Izzard has been quietly replaced with British actor David Hunt, who is married to actress Patrician Heaton. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out any additional information about what happened with Izzard on the set.

Can Minnie Driver hold her own against comedian Eddie Izzard? Eddie thinks so, which is why he and other producers cast Minnie Driver to co-star in a new series with him for F/X. Izzard and Driver will play Wayne and Dahlia, a husband-and-wife team of con artists who travel with a band of Irish gypsies. The series starts as Dahlia is getting out of jail. She and Wayne decide to live the straight life and settle down in the suburbs with their three kids. While I'm really excited that Eddie Izzard is coming to American television, I worry about the fact that this show is being called a "Drama". Eddie is hi-larious and the premise sounds funny, so maybe it's a Desperate Housewives-style show, which is part drama, part comedy (although, it won Best Comedy at the Golden Globes earlier this month). The new series is called Lowlife. Production on the pilot begins in March in New Orleans.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]