Can two hipster Brits become America’s Favorite Dysfunctional Family?
By Michelle Foody

Izzard and driver go for the riches

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/12/07 — FX Networks’ “The Riches” is the latest example of cable stations trying to out-weird each other with quirky anti-heroes and quasi-criminal subcultures. Musician/actress Minnie Driver said “This character will be surprising for audiences because I’m a full-grown swampy from Louisiana and a crack addict. It’s great.”

“The Riches” are the latest among polygamists, pot farmers and hit men vying to become “America’s Dysfunctional Family.” As a trend, they are replacing the gentler dysfunctional families like “The Simpsons” “The Osbournes,” or the ones on shows like “Desperate Housewives.”

The FX Channels new mid-season show airing today is nonetheless a gamble for the network. The gritty, dark-comedy drama premiers hot on the heels of Courtney Cox’s FX show, “Dirt,” the less-than-squeaky-clean look at celebrity. Led by Brits Driver and cross-dressing comic Eddie Izzard, the show finds them snatching the identity of a wealthy, dying man and then proceed to move into his gated community.

Driver’s portrayal of a corn-rowed Southern con-belle as a prime-time heroine may strike some as a risky move. Or, maybe its merely a piggy-back on this new trend in television on “edgy” channels.
At a recent interview with cast and crew, however, creator Dmitry Lipkin, insists his con family isn’t all that different from other Americans.
“They’re people who stick by each other and may have a slightly different sense of morality from the rest of America. I also think they’re morality overlaps with the rest of America. I like them.”
Driver agrees. Film leading lady Driver, best known as Skylar, the British chick who hooked Matt Damon in ”Good Will Hunting,” agreed to an American television pilot out of love for her “Riches” character, Dahlia.

“When I read this, it was just and away the best part I’ve ever been offered. As a woman in film, there’s maybe four actresses who get the really [great roles] — they’re mostly called Kate,” laughs the good-natured actress.

Both Driver and Eddie Izzard as actors, aren’t all that far from con-artists themselves. The versatile stars slip into Southern drawl effortlessly, and hopefully can make the audience believe in their larger-than-life “traveler” personas.

In the pilot, for instance, Izzard, British comic famous for his irreverent stand-up routine, delivered in full drag, takes up golf, as part of his new lifestyle.

“A golf pro that came down that day, and he gave me ten minutes of instruction. So I did that in ten minutes, and it just shows you what con artists can do,” laughs the actor.

Thieves and liars are all over television, but those characters aren’t listing “con-man” as their main occupation. So the dicey subject matter has been fortunate to find a home at FX, one of the few networks giving writers some artistic breathing room.

“We’ve enjoyed very much the creative freedom that we’ve had at HBO and Showtime and FX. As television writers, you just don’t get to write the kind of stuff you can write in those places on network”, insisted co-writer and producer Dawn Prestwich. “So you don’t make as much money, but you get up every morning thrilled to go to work, thrilled to work with people like this. It’s completely worth it.”

But even FX will only go so far when it comes to depressing television. The original footage shot by Carl Franklin was seen as “just a little bit too hellish to watch,” to borrow the words of Eddie Izzard himself.
What premiers on FX on Monday March 12^th will have a solid infusion of humor, to temper the original, ultra-dark version of fake suburbanites.

“The Riches” are the latest among polygamists, pot farmers and hit men vying to become “America’s Dysfunctional Family.” As a trend, they are replacing the gentler dysfunctional families like “The Simpsons” “The Osbournes,” or the ones on shows like “Desperate Housewives.”