“The Riches”
Monday 10pm, FX
The buzz for FX’s newest original series has been surprisingly quiet, especially considering how good it is. Brit actor/comedian/chameleon Eddie Izzard stars as a career grifter who, after running an upper-middle-class couple off the road and killing them during a high-speed chase, assumes their identities in an attempt to basically steal the American dream. His entire family moves into the Riches’ fancy new McMansion, he bullshits his way into a lawyer gig, and the family struggles to adapt to upper-middle-class suburban life, all the while fearing that it will come crashing down the minute they’re exposed as thieves. Izzard is fantastic in the lead role, by turns charmingly enthusiastic about the caper and terrified when he realizes he’s in way over his head. Once in a while we get just a glimpse of the cold-blooded snake he truly is, and it’s scary indeed. Minnie Driver (where have you been, girl?) plays his wife. While she’s a perfect dramatic foil for Izzard, able to match him mood swing for mood swing, her Southern accent is kind of a disaster. But that’s a small gripe for what is a dark, gripping, and oddly comic show, much in the same vein as Showtime’s superlative “Weeds.”
“Charm School”
Sunday 10pm, VH1
I have been waiting for this all year. The two seasons of VH1’s “Flavor of Love”—in which washed-up rapper Flavor Flav “dated” roughly two dozen women of questionable breeding in a search for “love”—introduced viewers to a variety of outrageous instant celebrities. The distaff spinoff, “I Love New York,” fell slightly short of the original, but turned out just fine in the end (I can’t believe Tango actually proposed to her…). This, however, ought to be
a hoot. Zaftig actress Mo’nique was reportedly shocked by the way the various Flav girls debased themselves for the cameras. She demanded that VH1 give her a shot at them, and so they gave her this show, in which the foul-mouthed comedian puts the girls through charm school in an effort to turn them into true ladies. Notable contestants include Goldie, Hottie and Pumkin—producer of the best loogie-in-the-face EVER captured on film—from “Flavor” Season 1, and from Season 2, Toastee, Buckwild, Like Dat, Krazy, Bootz, and Saaphyri, notable for being kicked off the show for beating the living crap out of another girl. This is officially the guiltiest guilty pleasure ever. And it hasn’t even started yet!
“Thank God You’re Here”
Monday 9pm, NBC
This new show is the Americanized version of an Australian celebrity comedy improv competition—kind of like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” but less sucky. Each week four comedians are provided with costumes, props and sets, and are then thrown into the middle of a scene for which they have no script. Somebody says “Thank god you’re here!” and then they basically just wing it. It’s a lot of fun. The comedians range from B-grade to D-grade, including the divine Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard, the increasingly irrelevant Tom Green and Shannon Elizabeth, Joel McHale from E!’s “The Soup,” Angela Kinsey from “The Office,” Tom Arnold and Fran Drescher. Now that’s a motley crew. For a host, NBC unearthed David Alan Grier from the box of mothballs he’s been living in since the 1990s. Ex-"Kids in the Hall" and “Newsradio” star Dave Foley acts as judge. And he does a fine job, but man, did he age fast. I keep wondering if that goofy salt-and-pepper Van Dyke is a prop or not…
