Television series

The Righteous Gemstones

Name: The Righteous Gemstones
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2019
Cast: John Goodman, Danny McBride, Cassidy Freeman, Tim Baltz, Edi Patterson

A mega-church dynasty of preachers, hustlers and heirs, run by John Goodman's patriarch and his three appalling, oddly lovable adult children. It's Danny McBride's specialty: broad, filthy, structurally ambitious comedy that swerves into genuine grief and tenderness when you least expect it. Big set pieces, bigger egos, and a real question underneath about whether faith and greed can share a house.

TVMaze rating

6.5

If you liked this

Eastbound & Down2009

McBride and Jody Hill's first great monster, Kenny Powers, is the blueprint for every strutting, self-deluded Gemstone. Same DNA, same rhythm of humiliation and swagger, tighter and meaner.

But Kenny Powers is nastier with less redemption on offer — if the Gemstones' warmth is what you liked, this is colder.

Vice Principals2016

McBride and Walton Goggins as two petty tyrants scheming for a school principalship. Same creative team, same escalating pettiness turning genuinely dark, in miniature.

But Only two seasons and much bleaker by the end — less family, more slow-motion self-destruction.

Arrested Development2003

The gold standard for a wealthy, awful family comedy — dense, quotable, every member of the Bluth clan a beautifully specific kind of terrible.

But Cooler and more cerebral than Gemstones' broad physical comedy; the joke density can feel like homework on first watch.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Elmer Gantry1960

Same premise almost exactly — charisma weaponized as religion for profit — but treated as tragedy rather than farce, and it did it first.

Burt Lancaster's Oscar-winning turn as a charismatic con man who talks his way into a preaching empire — the Gemstones' spiritual grandfather, decades before cable television made the grift bigger.

But Stagey and moralistic by modern standards, with none of the crude comic relief — this one means every word of its condemnation.

Succession2018

Swap pulpits for boardrooms and you get the same rotten-fruit family tree: siblings jockeying for a throne none of them deserve, under a father who enjoys watching them try.

But Much less horny, much more devastating — it's tragedy wearing a suit, not a comedy wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Barry2018

Another HBO comedy that keeps widening its aperture until you're not sure if you're laughing or holding your breath — violence and delusion handled with the same tonal daring.

But Far more contained and melancholy; Bill Hader's stillness is the opposite of the Gemstones' volume.

Schitt's Creek2015

A fallen rich family forced back to earth, and the slow unlikely tenderness that grows out of humiliation — the show's soft heart is what Gemstones is secretly reaching for too.

But Gentle where Gemstones is filthy; if you came for chaos and cursing, this will feel like a lullaby.

Veep2012

Vicious, rapid-fire satire of people convinced of their own importance while being catastrophically incompetent — a masterclass in comic cruelty that never lets up.

But Political rather than religious, and much less sentimental — no one here gets a redemptive hug.

Silicon Valley2014

Another ensemble of grifters and true believers building an empire on a foundation that shouldn't hold, with the same gift for turning humiliation into big laughs.

But Tech-bro satire instead of religious satire, and noticeably less interested in family or faith.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005

The patron saint of terrible people doing terrible things to each other with total conviction — if you want the raw, undiluted McBride-adjacent id, this is the source.

But No sentiment, no family love underneath, no arc — pure bile, which is either the appeal or the deal-breaker.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia poster

Marjoe1972

It's the nonfiction version of the exact scam the Gemstones run, filmed by a man who actually ran it and later couldn't stand himself for it.

An Oscar-winning documentary following a real child evangelist, grown up and cynically exposing his own tent-revival tricks on camera. Stranger and funnier than fiction could dare to be.

But Grainy, dated, and genuinely upsetting in places — this is the real machinery Gemstones satirizes, minus the jokes to soften it.

Come Sunday2018no page yet

Same world of megachurch power and money, but played entirely straight, showing what genuine belief costs when the empire built on it starts to crack.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a real televangelist whose crisis of faith costs him his empire and friends — a serious, sorrowful drama about the same industry Gemstones mines for laughs.

But Quiet, earnest, and completely unfunny by design — a hard tonal swerve if you came for chaos and slapstick.