Critics praise 'Filthy Rich' for 'embracing its trashiness' and Kim Cattrall's performance
If you're looking for a guilty pleasure, TV critics may suggest "Filthy Rich."
The Kim Cattrall-led soap opera-style series from Fox (which debuted Monday night) is getting its fair share of positive reviews thanks to critics' descriptions of its solid execution and charm. (The show averaged 2.9 million viewers Monday, behind "Monday Night Football" and "American Ninja Warrior" but ahead of "Love Island.")
"Filthy Rich" centers around Cattrall ("Sex and the City") as the widow of a Southern televangelist who carries on the family business. And as you can imagine, some interesting things ensue.
So whether you're a fan of Cattrall or just interested in a bit of escapism TV amid the coronavirus pandemic, here are some notable reviews:
CNN
"'Filthy Rich' is a bit of a Franken-soap, seemingly stitched together from pieces of other series. Yet it works, at least kind of, as a guilty pleasure, unabashedly embracing its trashiness with sly wit and reasonably clever twists. As kickoffs to the broadcast TV season go, Fox could have, and indeed has, done worse... Shows like 'Filthy Rich,' by contrast, are pretty much a dime a dozen. But if they're executed well, as this one is, they can still be enough fun to win some loyal converts."
Time
"It’s executed with just the right mix of self-aware sudsiness and addictive drama... Chief among its pleasures is Cattrall’s performance, which complements her creamy alto with the imperious charisma of a Joan Collins or a Vanessa Williams... Filthy Rich plays to strengths she demonstrated in Sex and the City. A cocktail of big personalities like Martha Stewart, Kathie Lee Gifford and the real female televangelist Marilyn Hickey, Margaret seems just as earnest in her faith as she is devoted to maintaining her family’s fortune and status—an internal struggle that makes her both believably complex and hilarious."
Entertainment Weekly
"Filthy Rich will never be confused for Emmy bait, but Fox’s new soap — about a flashy and flawed family of Prosperity Gospel billionaires — is a welcome throwback to the type of playful, Spelling-esque silliness that’s been missing from primetime for too long... It’s a sublime moment of camp and a wonderful showcase for Cattrall, who has a grand old time as Filthy Rich’s head Bible-thumper in charge... Let us pray that Fox gives Filthy Rich more time to find its flock — these days, an hour of frivolous escapism feels positively heavenly."
TV Guide
"You've earned a guilt-free viewing of the in-one-ear-out-the-other satirical drama Filthy Rich... because the world sucks.... Filthy Rich is, to use the backhanded compliment du jour for these times, the 'perfect escapist series to help you forget about the world,' and it's so low stress, it requires only percentage points of your brain to enjoy."
Other reviews, however, found the show to lack enough filth to make it truly rich.
Variety
"It’s too bad... that on 'Filthy Rich,' her new Fox drama, Cattrall is never really given the opportunity to dig in... Given a lead actor capable enough to handle wild material and a premise that, for its flaws, holds within it the possibility of something very clever, it’s too bad (creator Tate Taylor) couldn’t do more with 'Filthy Rich,' a show whose first three episodes don’t prove themselves to be filthy enough for the audience or as rich as Cattrall deserves."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Filthy Rich' reviews: Critics praise 'guilty pleasure,' Kim Cattrall
