Despite its parodic intentions, the series displays a frustrating timidity in critiquing (or even chronicling) the evangelical milieu in which it's set beyond the Monreauxes' material excess and most glaring ethical failings.
This holdover from last season is a poor man's Dynasty, with a surprisingly low-energy performance from Kim Cattrall at its center. It isn't half as fun (or as campy) as it should be.
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.
[It] 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.
"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.
It's too bad he 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.
