The Riches

The Riches
The Malloys (clockwise from left): Dahlia, Cael, Di Di, Wayne, and Sam
Genre	Serial drama
Created by	Dmitry Lipkin
Starring	Eddie Izzard Minnie Driver Shannon Woodward Noel Fisher Aidan Mitchell Todd Stashwick Gregg Henry
Theme music composer	Harry Gregson-Williams
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Dmitry Lipkin Dawn Prestwich Nicole Yorkin Peter O'Fallon Eddie Izzard
Producers	Paul Kurta Sara E. Morrow
Production locations	Marrero, LA New Orleans, LA Santa Clarita, CA
Camera setup	Single-camera setup
Running time	48 minutes
Original release
Network	File:FX logo.svg FX Networks
Release	March 12 2007 – Present

The Riches (also spelled The Ri¢hes) is an ongoing FX television series starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver. Originally named Low Life, the show was created by Dmitry Lipkin for Maverick Television and FX Networks. The one-hour pilot was written by Lipkin and Eddie Izzard, and directed by Carl Franklin. It first aired on March 12, 2007, with plans for a further 12 episodes. Additionally, the first two episodes were made available on the Internet prior to their television air dates. FX President John Landgraf described The Riches as a 'family show,' albeit one featuring "a family unlike any television viewers have seen before."

Plot synopsis

The show features Izzard and Driver as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy; they, along with their family, are Irish Traveller con artists and thieves. They travel with their children Di Di, Sam and Cael.

Template:Spoiler As the series begins Dahlia has just been paroled from prison. During her two-year sentence, she has developed various drug addictions. In her absence, Wayne and the children have been continuing to act as con artists across the US. After a brief reunion with their Traveller clan, the family flees to avoid an arranged marriage for Di Di, and because Wayne has stolen the clan's hoard of cash. After getting into an altercation and RV chase with another Traveller family, the Malloys are involved in a car accident that kills a very wealthy couple (the eponymous Riches). Choosing not to return to their clan camp, they instead adopt the Riches' identity in suburban Baton Rouge, Louisiana and live as buffers, as they call mundane, law abiding people.

Characters

Malloy/"Rich" Family

Wayne Malloy (Eddie Izzard)

Wayne Malloy is the paternal head of the Malloy family (not to be confused with the extended Malloy 'clan'). He is a consummate, intelligent grifter and thief who experienced an 'existential crisis' while his wife was serving time in prison. He has become disillusioned with the nomadic, scamming lifestyle of the Travellers; it was his idea to steal the identities of deceased Doug and Cherien Rich and settle down into a normal life. Dahlia has referred him as a 'halfbreed' or 'half buffer', but his exact lineage remains unknown.

Dahlia Malloy (Minnie Driver)

Dahlia Malloy is Wayne's wife. Newly out on parole, Dahlia's behavior is erratic and unpredictable, possibly exacerbated by drug habits picked up in prison. As of the pilot, we have seen her drinking cough syrup, preparing to inject crystal meth, and taking prescription pills offered by a neighbor. She has also begun to smoke her neighbor's marijuana. Dahlia is considered 'royalty' in their Traveller clan, and her connection to the clan (both by blood and ideology) appears to be much stronger than Wayne's. She is very skeptical of Wayne's plan to leave their old lifestyle and impersonate the Riches, but has helped him work the con and done her part to assume the identity of Cherien Rich.

Cael Malloy (Noel Fisher)

Cael is the eldest Malloy son. He appears rather quiet and shady, yet is very intelligent. His skills include carrying out petty cash-register cons ("I gave you a twenty!"), faking epileptic seizures, picking locks, and disabling alarm systems. While his sister Di Di seems to be more loyal to their father, Cael is more supportive of their mother and the traditional Traveller lifestyle and beliefs. Likewise, his reception to the "Rich" lifestyle is not quite as enthusiastic as that of his ambitious father. Shortly after assuming the identities of the Riches and enrolling in preparatory school, Cael continues his criminal ways after he decides to assist two wayward classmates in breaking into the school to change the grade-records (episode 4).

Dehliah "Di Di" Malloy (Shannon Marie Woodward)

Dehliah (mostly referred to as "Di Di") is the adolescent daughter of Wayne and Dahlia. Like the other Malloy children, she is intelligent and thrifty, and is adept at various scams and thievery. In the opening scene of the pilot she is seen pickpocketing people at a high school class reunion while Wayne distracts them. On Dahlia's first night out of prison, Di Di is the one who finds her mother passed out, cough syrup bottle in hand, with needle marks showing on her arm. Di Di's relationship with her mother appears to be strained; when it temporarily seemed the family would split up, Di Di chose to stay with her father (Wayne). As of episode 3, she has struck up a relationship with classmate and Edenfalls local Erick (see: Buffers).

Sam Malloy (Aidan Mitchell)

Sam is the youngest Malloy child and frequently dresses in girls' clothing. The idea for Sam's cross-dressing came about before Izzard, a cross-dressing (albeit heterosexual) comedian, joined the show. The first night they spend in the Rich home, Sam draws a large mural on a wall in the house depicting their recent adventures, including the car accident and Dahlia's release from prison. In addition to his artistic endeavors, he also speaks French. Like the rest of his family, Sam appears to be very clever and adept at trickery. In episode 3, Sam is the key player in an elaborate con of Dahlia's to get the Malloy children into Rosemere Academy.

Travellers

Dale Malloy (Todd Stashwick)

Dahlia's cousin, and self-proclaimed new head of the Malloy Traveller clan. Dale has a violent and unpredictable temper. He and Wayne seem to have a long-standing hatred for each other, and Dale instigated a fistfight between them in the pilot episode. Dale was a former rival for Dahlia's affections, ultimately losing out to Wayne.

Earl Malloy (Red West)

Dale's father; ailing head of the Malloy clan. His as-yet unspecified illness has left him an invalid, and unable to speak. When Wayne was stealing the clan bank from a safe in Earl's room, Earl could have sounded the alarm by ringing a bell but apparently chose not to.

Ginny Dannegan (Nichole Hiltz)

A social climber within the clan, she is determined to marry her slow-witted brother Ken to Di Di, securing a connection between her family and the ruling Malloy line. Dale approved this match without the knowledge of Wayne or Dahlia. Ginny and Dale are increasingly at odds, with Ginny attempting to undermine Dale's aims to become the new clan boss.

Tammy Simms (Johanna E. Braddy)

Cael's girlfriend. He left her behind at the Traveller camp when the family fled; Dale has been trying to use her, against her will, to find out where they are.

Linda & Mick O'Malley (Andrea Frankle, John McConnell)

Travellers from another clan who come across Wayne and the family at a gas station as they are making their escape from the Malloy camp. Wayne and Mick have a disagreement, ending in an RV chase that ultimately causes the car accident which kills the real Riches.

Buffers

Jim & Nina Burns (Bruce French, Margo Martindale)

A couple who live in the gated community (Edenfalls) where the real Riches purchased a house just before their deaths. They are the first people to meet the Malloys after they move into the house and assume the Riches' identities. Nina keeps a stock of prescription pills, some of which she has shared with Dahlia, and some of which Dahlia has stolen from her. Jim also raises alpacas.

Hugh Panetta (Gregg Henry)

Another Edenfalls local, a very wealthy real-estate mogul with a penchant for guns. In the pilot episode, Wayne meets him while golfing (at Jim Burns' invitation), and begins to more deeply assume the identity of Doug Rich when Hugh questions him. They make a wager over the golf game and Wayne wins. By the end of episode 2, Wayne has bluffed his way into a job at Panco, one of Hugh's companies, as in-house counsel.

Erick (Stephen Sowan)

A pot-smoking, guitar-playing teenager who attends Rosemere Academy and shares a class with Di Di. She first encounters him in episode 3; by episode 4 they have played guitar together and shared a a kiss.

Lexicon

The Travellers use a variety of terminology:

Buffer

An ordinary person, a non-Traveller.

Koosh

Money or other valuables, particularly ones the Travellers can steal.

Half Breed

A Traveller not born into the clan, but brought in by other methods such as marriage.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Riches episodes

Ratings

The pilot episode of The Riches drew 3.8 million viewers. With 2.5 million of those viewers in the 18-49 demographic, The Riches scored second only to the premiere of The Shield, thus beating out the premieres of other FX dramas such as Rescue Me, Over There, and Dirt. The pilot was also FX's first-ever Monday night premiere of an original series, and more than doubled the channel's highest-ever ratings for the Monday 10pm slot.

Critical reception

Television critics were generally favorable in their reviews of The Riches. The Baltimore Sun described it as "the kind of TV drama that makes one think while being entertained." and The Boston Globe lauded a "layered drama" full of "unexpectedly soulful pleasures". Some critics thought the show "lacks originality," but there was unanimous praise for the principal actors; the New York Times reporting "together, [Izzard and Driver] are superb."

External links

• The Riches at IMDb
• Official site
• Cake or Death's The Riches Site
• The Riches Fan Site and Forum
• The Riches Forums