TV: Lifestyles of the fake rich

So it's a relief to watch the first three episodes of FX's new drama The Riches (Mondays, 10 p.m.) and see that it's not the awkward, laughable mess that Dirt was, even if it's still a bit uneven and unsure of itself. It's got a unique premise and decent follow-through, and characters you might actually care to tune in week after week to see. It's never going to become a watercooler sensation like Nip/Tuck or The Shield, since it's less focused on shock value than those shows are, but it could develop nicely into a consistently engaging drama about a very unconventional family, much like HBO's Big Love.

The Riches actually has quite a bit in common with Big Love: Both follow families from marginalized religious/ethnic groups (Riches' gypsy Travellers; Love's fundamentalist Mormons) as they try to assimilate into modern suburban society while keeping their true natures a secret from those around them. Both families share antagonistic relationships with their more faithful relatives living in isolated enclaves nearby. And, perhaps most fundamentally, Riches seems to understand Travellers about as well as Love understands Mormons.

But verisimilitude is clearly not the goal for a show whose set-up is pure contrivance, with circumstances conspiring to allow the Malloy family of grifters to seamlessly adopt the identities of the wealthy suburban Riches just as they've alienated their Traveller kin by stealing a whole lot of cash. A show about a con-artist family on the road (which is what most of the pilot is) or about one genuinely trying to go straight would be interesting enough on its own, but Riches walks a complex and interesting (but potentially untenable) line by incorporating both. Are the Malloys trying to blend in because they really want to join "buffer" society, as they call mainstream America? Or is it just a long con so they can lay low until cousin Dale stops chasing them?

The beauty of it is, not even the Malloys themselves seem to know. Dad Wayne (Eddie Izzard) becomes eerily gung-ho about inhabiting the role of a high-powered lawyer, despite knowing nothing about the law, but mom Dahlia (Minnie Driver) longs to return to the family's nomadic ways—at least until she devises a scheme to get her kids into private school. It's amusing and emotional and even a little suspenseful, although there are moments that strain credulity even for such an obviously far-fetched premise.

But Driver is surprisingly great as a hard-nosed Southern woman, as is Shannon Woodward as daughter Delilah. The men don't fare quite as well, and the overindulgence in quirky character traits (Dahlia is addicted to cough syrup; youngest son Sam is a cross-dresser) is a little trendy and forced. Somehow, though, it all comes together most of the time, keeping the FX brand valuable, for the moment.