Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : "The Riches" Ep. 4-5, plus Friday marathon and review/preview ||| comments:
-Wayne and Dahlia may never get their stories straight (like the kids seem too), unless the writing team chooses to address the drama/comedy dissonance with fewer broad strokes. Maybe the off-kilter feeling has more to do with budgets and scheduling with the result being less time to preen over the results like HBO.
An aside: One of the most compelling dramatic representations of a street hustler not being able to understand even a modest assignment was Charlize Theron in 'Monster', while interviewing for a secretarial position. huh. A different tonality (not played for laughs), but brilliant in revealing the hard reality outsiders face when trying to go straight. Posted By: hickcity

-I suppose the writers made him a lawyer in order to make it plausible that there are no old friends that might trip them up. heh. Posted By: hickcity

-With The Riches, the writing is a little weak, but Izzard and Minnie beyond excellent. Izzard is obviously an immense talent, but who knew that Minnie Driver could do this? Off-topic: "Friday Night Lights" was a little off on the season wrap-up for obvious reasons ???, but overall it was a fabulous series. Dunno if it will be renewed (after CC's CC? oh the Culture Commisar TimGoodman so somewhere he talks about this proclimation), but I would be satisfied with a 1-hit-wonder, if that's the way it goes. Posted By: eroseme

-I think Minnie Driver has always been great but she is hard to cast. She is physically very different than most actresses. I think she is one of those rare actresses like Juliane Moore who come into their own AFTER fourty. int. Very rare. Helen Mirren, Judy Dench, those type of actresses. The really really good kind. Posted By: amandapants

-I'd also mention the well-wrought characters of the kids, who act like real kids. Posted By: jim94121

-No one has mentioned the episode (4th?) with the scene where Eddie Izzard visits Doug's ex-wife and phones Minnie Driver who is is sitting outside. What starts as a con transforms into a conversation between the two of them, her incarceration and his sorrow at having been responsible for it. It's the stuff I'll never seen on non-cable; it's surprising and literary in its quality. that scene was lovely, mainly bcs of Minnie Driver I think, but Izzard too. I don't know if it was a well-designed scene ~ but Dahlie getting so emotional that she now just responds when he says "Doug?" without any mediation of the role: "I didn't say anything."
As for the "no way he's a lawyer" thread, are *any* TV lawyers realistic? Allie McBeal, who worked about 45 minutes a day? (oh, well that was a comedy.) Law and Order? Talk about someone who never fails - how realistic is that? A fair point that one can't waltz in and practice corporate law but it doesn't unhitch the show from my truck. On the contrary I think one of the themes in The Riches is the Impostor Syndrome, and how we all feel at moments that we're faking it til we're making it. Posted By: jim94121