I forgot how royally screwed the Malloys were at the end of the first season of FX’s The Riches. It really only left them with two ways to go for this new batch: jump forward to better days and fill in the convenient resolutions to their many dramas with flashbacks or just have them dig that hole even deeper. Under normal circumstances, I’d be thrilled that they went with the latter on this one, but it complicates the already annoying circumstances… This season of The Riches is only seven episodes long.
The Bad: After the writers’ strike halted production on scripts, FX cut the episode order from 13 down to 7. Their motivations probably fell somewhere between the financial implications of restarting production and a lack of faith in The Riches’ mediocre performance in ratings. So now the show is back, but two episodes in, plot development has yet to really resume. Our characters were scattered, scrambling for an idea of what to do, and only now are they returning home to continue the farce they’ve all grown so attached to. There’s only five episodes left and it’s like the season is just now starting.
(I also still have a pretty big issue with the fact that every character in this series seems well acquainted with the idea of “travelers.” Are white trashy gypsies really that much of an issue in the American South? If so, I’ve been completely oblivious.)
The Good: There probably couldn’t be any greater improvement this season than the 86ing of those mind-boggling cheesy opening titles. (Unless the designer was under the impression that The Riches was about a family of unicorns with a habit of dropping acid, they were just unforgivable.) But that’s a little off topic.
Dahlia/Cherien, still played gloriously by Minnie Driver, is miles away from the bitter ex-con and frequently lapsing junkie we got to know in the first season. She’s taken ownership of her problems and her family. Wayne/Doug, on the other hand, is kind of falling apart. The pressures of maintaining his fake identity are mounting, he’s keeping secrets from everyone, he’s an accessory to a murder and he just buried his third body in less than a year. As for their children, they’re still charming but no more interesting than they were last season. Certainly not as exciting as their adopted grandmother or the wildly complex neighbor, Nina, who’s looks to be taking on a much bigger role this season.
All in all, I’m just happy to have The Riches back. The new season has garnered a lot of positive attention, strong ratings and even a bizarre eBay auction where people put in bids to win a lunch with Minnie Driver and… $100,000. I couldn’t dig up the winner, though I imagine they got it on a bid of less than $100,000. In any case, cheers to them. Five new episodes may not seem like hardly enough, but there will probably be plenty more sooner or later.
Some people went to Paley and saw most of the Buffy cast reunite to talk about how awesome they are. I stayed on the East Coast, seething with jealousy…
You may be surprised to learn that some people actually still write. And many of them did just this past week…
Brenda Strong – Narrating Desperate Housewives can’t be that time consuming – those scripts practically read themselves! Besides, I’m sick of the ridiculously awesome Strong being stuck as the invisible, omniscient housewife. It’s about time she stepped back in front of the camera and Psych is a perfect venue. And since Shawn’s mom definitely has a dose of nasty for being a big, fat baby-abandoner, Strong could play the character like she did Elaine’s evil, bra-less nemesis on Seinfeld.
Kristine Sutherland - If I was a TV orphan, I know who I’d want to adopt me, and it’s not Angelina. Before she met her heartbreaking end on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sutherland played the slayer’s mother, Joyce, to the point of parental perfection. It wasn’t that she was sweet (she was a straight up badass when circumstances demanded it) – Joyce was just real. In the parallel universe where she starts acting again and nabs this role, I’d love to see her play it as a middle-aged tart – a la “
Kate Jackson – Nothing beats a vintage hottie, and my favorite of Charlie’s Angels was always the understated and brainy Sabrina. Shawn’s dad may have taught him how to be crazy observant, but where did he learn the rest of his detectivin’ skills? I can just picture a flashback of Jackson teaching little Shawn how to jimmy car doors. Either way, this gal doesn’t make enough appearances! If she doesn’t join the Psych crew, can’t we at least find her a spot on Dancing With The Stars?
Phylicia Rashad – Who’s to say that woman at the door really is Shawn’s mother? She could be there to tell him that his real mother is actually… Mrs Burton! No, Shawn isn’t black, and sure, something like this would have probably come up, but come on! Rashad is the undisputed queen of TV moms, and her recent appearance as Gus’s on the Psych Christmas special was far too brief. Bringing her back would be really fun for the Shawn/Gus dynamic.
