The Riches

:

Season 1
  • Network: FX
  • Series Premiere Date: Mar 12, 2007
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 30
  3. Negative: 2 out of 30
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Critic Reviews

  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    100
    "The Riches" is both unique and intoxicating -- and plenty more.
  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Storm
    100
    The best new TV show of the 2006-07 season.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Clark Collis
    91
    Think Big Love-meets-Carnivale and you're in the ballpark, but The Riches boasts its own weird, violent, druggy, hilarious mix. [16 Mar 2007, p.63]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    90
    It’s so compelling it deserves to be a hit.
  6. San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
    Reviewed by: Charlie McCollum
    88
    Monday's opening hour is a bit disjointed stylistically. But the individual pieces are so compelling that you're still going to be sucked into the saga. And the show gets far more consistent in future episodes.
  7. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    88
    [Driver's] tone gets under the skin. As does the show. [19 Mar 2007, p.39]
    All this critic's reviews
  8. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    88
    Though the overall tone is light, there's enough darkness in "The Riches," and enough depth in the performances, to make you care about these people - even when you don't totally buy the premise.
  9. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    80
    This is a meaty show about the complex allure of easy wealth and the traps it sets for one’s personal morality.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    80
    Izzard is a great surprise in FX's "The Riches," and just one of this fascinating new series' unexpectedly soulful pleasures.
  11. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Hal Boedeker
    80
    The Riches has the makings of a bracing, provocative series.
  12. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    80
    It's far-fetched. It's outlandish. You will think you are too smart to get suckered in by it, but give it a few minutes and you will be proved wrong.
  13. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    80
    Lipkin demonstrates a keen eye for nuances of class and social structure and a unique perspective on how to attain the American dream.
  14. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Doug Elfman
    75
    The show's first three episodes don't always land their punches. But "The Riches" takes daring swings. And the acting, especially in Monday's debut, is as good as it gets on TV.
  15. Detroit Free Press
    Reviewed by: Mike Duffy
    75
    Laced with profanity, amoral behavior and fine performances, "The Riches" adheres to its own maverick set of family drama values ... infused with secrets and lies, twisted laughs and lots of love.
  16. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    75
    The Riches most often treats this family and their mad attempt to steal a new identity with a delightfully light comic touch bolstered by an underpinning of yearning.... The show stumbles whenever it tries to become dark or serious.
  17. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    70
    "The Riches" reminds me a bit of "Big Love" the first time I saw it. I wasn’t sure whether to like these people or despise them, whether I bought the premise or not. And yet, at the end of the hour, I wanted to see more.
  18. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    70
    The dangers for the mostly engrossing “Riches” is that it occasionally hits the “we’re stealing the American Dream” theme a little too hard, and it remains to be seen whether it will coast on the taut, engaging performances of Izzard and Driver.
  19. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    70
    Funny and intriguing.
  20. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: David Zurawik
    70
    Viewers who can get past the uncertain dialects and a few cartoonish supporting characters are in for a real treat.
  21. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    63
    Izzard and Driver are so good that you may be able to overlook a lot - like a plot to believe in.
  22. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: John Leonard
    60
    I suppose some of it is funny, as in a Kafka/Beckett/Pinter soft-shoe shuffle of grotesques. Still, what’s so far much more mesmerizing about The Riches is class war and caste hate.
  23. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    60
    [It] vacillates between riveting and middling.
  24. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Nancy Franklin
    60
    While the ideas behind “The Riches” are often satisfyingly satirical, Izzard’s role—he plays Wayne Malloy, a husband and a father of three, eager to escape the marginal life that he and his family have been living—is stagy and overblown.
  25. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    50
    There are more than a few problems here.
  26. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    50
    "The Riches" certainly has some rich elements -- there's even a little dark humor, just not enough of it -- but in early episodes, the show remains wobbly as it tries to find its footing.
  27. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    40
    The Riches is hard to believe and not much easier to embrace.
  28. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    40
    Despite two fine leading performances by Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver and a premise that's not like anything else on television, there's something missing in the execution.
  29. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Diane Werts
    40
    There's greatness begging to be grasped here, and nobody has a handle on it.
  30. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    30
    Although not the mess that "Dirt" is, the series is conceptually problematic, and seemingly ill-equipped to go the episodic distance.
  31. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    20
    My guess is that lots of people are going to rave about how deliciously dark and weird this drama is, but before you believe them, take a minute and imagine Minnie Driver with a fake Southern accent. Now imagine Eddie Izzard with an American accent that's so bad, it makes his voice sound almost computerized. Next, throw in some demonic rednecks straight out of "Deliverance." Are you getting hot yet?

Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Best TV Season of 2007
39
#39 Most Discussed TV Season of 2007
39
#39 Most Shared TV Season of 2007

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 82 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 82
  3. Negative: 23 out of 82
  1. Grandma1954
    Jun 15, 2013
    10
    Loved the Riches wish there was more it explored humans struggle of what is enough and they find out
    stuff does not make you happy love does    Loved the Riches wish there was more it explored humans struggle of what is enough and they find out
    stuff does not make you happy love does you could be the poorest person on earth but you might be the happyest because if you loose your stuff but still have your family your Rich with Love    … Full Review »
  2. Tss5078
    Feb 23, 2013
    8
    The Riches is the most recent TV show I've been watching from my Netflix que, and I have one question. How in the world could they cancel it!?The Riches is the most recent TV show I've been watching from my Netflix que, and I have one question. How in the world could they cancel it!? More people watched the premier of The Riches than ever watched an episode of the Shield or Rescue Me. It's also got to be one of the most creative shows I've ever seen!

    The show centers around the Molloy family, a family of modern day gypsies. Today is a big day for them as the matriarch of their family is being released from jail, after serving a two year sentence. A big party is thrown for her and all seems well in the Molloy family, but things aren't what they seem. The Molloy family is forced to leave their camp. Wayne (Eddie Izzard) is not going empty handed thou. Before leaving he cracks the camp leaders safe and takes a substantial amount of money.

    Once on the road, they run into another family from camp, that had been oblivious to what was going on. It doesn't take them long to realize something isn't right, but before they can confront them, the Molloy's take off and a big highway RV chase begins. During the chase a passing motorist and his wife are killed. The man and woman are Doug and Shrine Rich, and they are on their way to a new home in Eden Falls. Doug was a savvy lawyer, who made a fortune at the expense of others. On this day he and his new wife were on the run also, moving away from everyone and everything they've ever known to move to a new state and into a new house they bought on the internet. Thanks to paper work in the car, Wayne Molloy quickly realizes who these people were and where they were going. It is then that he decides it's time to stop travelling the country and settle into a nice, normal, "buffer", lifestyle. Living in Eden Falls as Doug and Shrine.

    Along with their 3 kids, the Molloy's try to adapt from being a family of travelers to a family of wealth and stability. The show is amazing! There are so many twist and turns, cons and jokes, ups and downs, It's so well written with an outrageous cast of characters, and most important of all, a storyline I promise you have never seen before! The show was cancelled by FX in late 2008, but both seasons are available on Netflix, and according to Wikipedia, Eddie Izzard and the show's creator are currently working on a full length feature film. If you want something different crossing comedy, drama, and action, then I'd say The Riches are for you!    … Full Review »
  3. elainef.
    Nov 9, 2007
    10
    I miss The Riches. One of the funniest shows I've ever seen...clever, satirical,fabulous acting. Come back soon.
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