The Riche$

I'm late to the game on FX's new drama "The Riches" -- the show premiered Monday night -- but I finally caught it on the Web last night and I was very impressed.

Brits Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver play a pair of grifters who take over the lives of a wealthy lawyer and his wife.

With its fish out of water premise and Izzard, you'd think the show would be closer to "Trading Places" than "The Sopranos," but even the funny situations here are played very seriously, very gloomily. Despite that, "The Riches" offers a compelling psychological portrayal of both the Malloys and the upper-middle class suburban lifestyle they stumble into.

Maybe it's because they're both British, but Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver bring just the right touch of "in the world, but not of it," to their family of grifters (technically, Irish Travellers here).

Again, this is compelling stuff. Check it out.

UPDATE: Viewers seem to agree with me. For once. "The Riches" pulled more than 3.8 million viewers for its debut, over 5 million with the repeats. That's pretty good for FX.