TVSquad

The late eighties and early-to-mid nineties brought out some of the filthiest, bottom-feeding talk shows our country has ever seen. From Morton Downey Jr. and Sally Jesse Raphael to Jerry Springer and Maury Povich, it was the era when "trash TV" became a symbol of a country's swift spiral down one giant cultural toilet in opposition to people like Larry King and Oprah Winfrey, who effortlessly made interviews with, like, Fran Drescher come off looking like Masterpiece Theater.

Around the latter half of the "boom" came Ricki Lake, the formerly obese star of Hairspray (no, seriously, that was basically her résumé), with a show that combined the usual elements of trashy talk (read: "freaks") with something impossibly dumber yet: catchphrases. Unlike today, when it takes weeks to months for squawk-boxes to latch onto cultural buzzwords like "metrosexual" and "baby daddy," Ricki Lake was trotting out episode "subjects" like "You're not all that!" and "Dump that zero and get yourself a hero!"

Naturally, she was a smash.

For my money, Eddie Izzard is one of the funniest comedians around. Who else can make British history from Stonehenge to Reformation hilarious? Or, do a drop-dead funny bit to an American audience while speaking French? But I digress...

This spring, he is co-writing and starring in a dramedy on FX called The Riches (formerly Low Life). His co-star is Minnie Driver, and they play a married couple with children who decide to settle for a life in the suburbs after years of caravaning around with tricky con-artists. No, he will not be playing an "executive transvestite".

Eddie was kind enough to post all three promos for his new show on his MySpace page. In all of them, he seems to be struggling to cover his distinct accent and sound more American. The promos don't really hook me, but the fact that it's Eddie Izzard is why I'll give the series a shot.

One promo is after the jump, the others are here.