The show Desperate Housewives should have been

Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy (aka Doug and Shireen Rich) from The Riches.

I just got done watching the season finale of The Riches, and I must say that this series has become one of my favorites. If you’re not familiar with it, Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver star as the parents of a family of con artists who, due to a series of unusual circumstances, are forced take over the lives of a wealthy suburban family; but it really is about the cost of the American dream, and not just in dollars and cents.

Though the plotting of the show sometimes took an end run around logic, the exploration of American culture, socialization and value systems, as well as the personal stories of each of the characters (including those beyond the core family on the show) was consistently fascinating, and the underlying current of suspense and paranoia also proved engrossing. Eddie Izzard‘s performance is a revelation, and the rest of the cast equally game. I really hope FX Networks brings it back for another season; unless the cost/viewer ratio is poor, I don’t see why they wouldn’t, as it fits in perfectly with their standard original programming scenario: morally conflicted protagonists living with the difficult choices they make in order to provide security for their loved ones (The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Thief, etc.).