Debut: An unscrupulous wealthy family becomes the headache of a lawyer who takes over as counsel when his father dies. In the opener, Nick George (Peter Krause) agrees to represent the Darlings, and is soon embroiled in the clan's bizarre problems.

Members of the family include the billionaire patriarch (Donald Sutherland) and his posh wife (Jill Clayburgh); an attorney general (Billy Baldwin) and his transgender girlfriend (Candis Cayne); a nasty Episcopal man of the cloth (Glenn Fitzgerald), hiding an illegitimate son; a thrice-married socialite (The Shield's Natalie Zea); a suicidal celebutante (The O.C.'s Samaire Armstrong); and a club kid (Nip/Tuck's Seth Gabel). Starting in Episode 4, Blair Underwood will appear as Darling archnemesis Simon Elder.

Wright is especially excited about the casting of Cayne, and he says the network is totally behind it. "She becomes one of the most sensible people on the show," he says. "I'm really proud that we get to take a person who's made a bold choice in terms of an alternative lifestyle and make them not just an onlooker or part of a joke but actually give the difference that they represent a real voice in the show."

Unfortunately, despite such first-class actors as Sutherland and Clayburgh as the top Darlings, the family comes across as a comic book roman à clef, with each child representing some form of bad behavior you've read about in the tabloids. They're too studiously larger-than-life, while Krause is somehow smaller, a drab presence on the fringe when he needs to be holding the center.

Great title, though. We'll see if that's enough.

Secrets are revealed through a series of flashbacks regarding Nick's father, Dutch (Peter Strauss), about his affair with Letitia and his relationships with Nick and Tripp; sparks fly between Simon and Karen; Brian is arrested for trying to bribe the arbitrator into awarding him custody of his son; and Sofía (Sofía Vergara) presses Jeremy to show her his apartment, as he scrambles to keep up his charade of poverty and enlists an unlikely ally -- Lisa George.

Nick travels to Italy with his wife, but Karen Darling ruins the romance by tagging along, and Letitia confirms her unfaithfulness to Tripp.

Nick learns Simon and Karen are secretly seeing each other, but he refuses to admit why it truly bothers him. Karen bails on the family tradition of watching "The Nutcracker" in order to accept Simon's invitation to meet a mysterious person. Brian's suspension from the ministry thrusts him into an existential career crisis, and Letitia suggests he go to Tripp for guidance. Lisa guides Jeremy in his quest to impress Sofia by pretending to be a painter. Meanwhile, Juliet has a visitor from the Seychelles, and Carmelita tells Patrick she thinks she's being watched.