Inside the televangelist’s world
HBO’s new series “The Righteous Gemstones” kicks off its nine-episode season with an hour-long episode showing in Thailand at the same time as the US on Monday August 19 at 9am, followed by half-hour episodes on subsequent Mondays.
The first episode will be repeated on the same day at 10pm on HBO.
Starring Danny McBride, Golden Globe winner John Goodman, Edi Patterson and Adam Devine, “The Righteous Gemstones” tells the story of a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed and charitable work.
Well into the second generation of the grand televangelist tradition, the renowned Gemstone family is living proof that worship pays dividends in all sizes, including their megachurch. McBride plays Jesse Gemstone, the eldest of three grown Gemstone offspring, who looks to lead in his father’s footsteps, but finds his past sins jeopardising the family ministry.
Playing Jesse’s siblings are Devine as pseudo-hipster Kelvin, the youngest of the trio and a thorn in Jesse’s side, and Patterson as Judy, who is secretly living with her fiancé and dreams of escaping the Gemstone compound.
Goodman is Eli, the family’s patriarch, who finds himself at a crisis point as he mourns the loss of his wife, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles), and questions the Gemstones’ mission.
The series was created by McBride, who is also executive producer and director, alongside Jody Hill and David Gordon Green.
“The Righteous Gemstones” marks the third HBO series for the Rough House Pictures team of McBride, Hill and Green, following “Eastbound & Down” and “Vice Principals.” McBride wrote and directed the pilot, with Green and Hill splitting directing duties on the other eight episodes.
