TVSquad

The numbers are in and The Riches is off to a nice start for FX. The 3.8 million viewers more than doubled the best Monday night at 10 the network has ever had. That was also slightly better than the premieres of Nip/Tuck and Dirt, but fell short of The Shield, Rescue Me, and Over There. In the 18-49 demo, the news was even better. The Riches ranks as the number two premiere, trailing only The Shield.

Of course, it remains to be seen how things hold up moving forward. I thought the premiere was very good, but it didn't match the advertising that led up to it. The show had a much darker, more serious tone than those commercials where we saw Wayne and Dahlia walking down the stairs pondering their new life. I'll be interested to see if that turned off any of those 3.8 million viewers.

I've been on the edge of my seat throughout the past three episodes, but this one wasn't as compelling. The characterizations and plotlines crossed the line into distinct stereotypes. The opening scene where the General tells Sgt. Scream that his team is the best at "shit jobs" (after three weeks in theater)? Smoke, talking about Compton as if he was straight out of Boyz N the Hood? Mrs. B. getting wooed the nasty way by a mercenary (sorry, "private contractor")? Dumphy quoting Henry II? Puh-lease. I've learned all my war movie knowledge from trying to work while my husband watched them in the other room...and I could have written this episode at least as well. On the plus side, this was the first time Dumphy's wife was sympathetic. For a minute.

Ooh, it's a war movie! Over There today proved itself to be, not a realistic picture of the war in Iraq, but an action-packed drama-filled fiction show. Today's episode? No one's gonna think (as some did after the premiere) that it's a reality show. And it's a good thing. The interrogation sequence was fun, edge-of-our-seats stuff. There was mayhem, and very mild torture, and an excellent firefight. None of which seemed terrifically likely to happen to a unit which has only been 'over there' a couple of weeks, and already had one very exciting interchange on the first day. Such is the power of the Bochco enterprise. That scene during the closing credits was gripping, filled with tension, mildly unbelievable. The camera work is great, Bochco can say volumes in the quiet pouring of a glass of juice.

If you've watched any FX shows within the past few months (*cough*Shield*cough*), you've no doubt seen the commercials for the new series titled Over There. The drama from Steven Bocho (NYPD Blue, Blind Justice) about the war in Iraq, the soldiers, and the families left behind is set to premiere on July 22 at 10 p.m. EST. If the quality of the current FX shows are any indication of what to expect, this may well work its way into a must-watch slot.