Filthy Rich

I'm watching a few episodes of Filthy Rich right now, going through an old stockpile of VHS tapes. It is excellent! This would make a great addition to TV Land or Brilliant but Canceled.

I'm also amazed at how far backwards we've traveled, as some of the lightweight scenes of this comedy would never be permitted in the overly PC world of 20 years later. And that's sad.

Dixie Carter is great, Delta Burke is her perfect foil. The entire cast seems carefully crafted and perfectly chosen. The overly opulent sets are just as overblown as anything on Dynasty. The dialog is quick, the plots just ridiculous enough. I'll bet reruns of this would even have flown during the writer's strike, moreso than reality shows.

There were so many hilarious quotes on Filthy Rich but one of my favorites that didn't make the quote list was: "For a moment there I had an overwhelming sensation of total desolation and utter futility, but I'm okay now." The episode with Bootsie and her "fantasy fur" was hilarious. Bootsie said something like "it's soft, it enhances trash cans and hair spray" the Carlotta says; " a lot of brightly colored monkeys had to die for that." Another favorite was when Carlotta got a job on Mud Island in Memphis. She apparently fell into the Mississippi River. When she came home, Marshal asked her something like what was she wearing. She said it was a Souther Belle outfit. He said, you look like you've been rung. I've literally been looking for this series to come out on tape or DVD. I'd love to have it and add it to my collection of favorite TV shows. Come on, it's only 15 episodes!

This was the funniest series that was ever on TV. It needs to be available on video. I for one would buy several to give as gifts. Ann Wedgeworth is just hilarious, but every actor is superb. After 20 years, I still remember some of the scenes! Anyone who ever saw it has never forgotten it.

For some strange reason, I always remembered this show. Maybe it was the outrageousness of it all or the fact that parodied Dallas. Anyway, I loved Dixie Carter, Ann Wedgeworth, Nedra Volz, and Delta Burke here more than I liked Dixie and Delta on Designing Women. I love parodies and this show should have been huge but again the demographics probably did not meet with network requirements like they did with Mama's Family and other shows that never made the cut. After all, they wanted a younger, hipper audiences. Now who is getting the last laugh since Blue Collar Comedy is back and in demand more than ever. That was the appeal of Filthy Rich was all the outrageousness about money and social classes. Too bad there were only fifteen episodes, we could have had more.

This show was utterly hilarious--one look at the cast list alone shows how much talent they had at their fingertips: Dixie Carter, Delta Burke (pre-"Designing Women") Forrest Tucker, Ann Wedgeworth, Slim Pickens, etc. The knives-and-dagger dialog between Carlotta (Dixie) and Kathleen (Delta) was some of the funniest and most quotable I've ever heard, including my favorite shot of all time (which happens to be missing from the IMDb quotes list): (Carlotta)"Yes, Kathleen has beautiful skin. It's from all that fresh air she gets on those early mornin' cab rides home." The style and characters remind me of other camp-filled projects, like Del Shore's play/film "Sordid Lives," or even BBC's series "Absolutely Fabulous." Maybe it was just ahead of its time. This show well deserves to be brought back on Nick at Nite or on Trio's Brilliant But Cancelled, or even DVD.