Succession is the binge-iest new TV show we’ve had in ages

We’ve waited six months for the TV series the Americans were gushing over. You’re definitely going to lose your week to this.

There are some shows you just can’t tear yourself away from.

Every moment is so bingeworthy, it’s like there’s an otherworldly force that prevents you from picking up the remote and pressing the stop button, so you just keep watching, licking your lips at how deliciously engrossing it all is.

Succession is exactly that kind of TV series.

An HBO show that debuted in the US in June, it finally hits Australia this week, premiering on Foxtel on Thursday night. But, happily, the entire first season will drop on Foxtel Now at the same time so you can devour it all at once.

And you’ll want to. Not since Killing Eve, and to a lesser extent, Bodyguard, has a series been as bingey as Succession.

Succession is a series you will want to binge watch

Succession is like any other family drama, like Parenthood or Brothers and Sisters or This Is Us, if all those well-intentioned and heartwarming characters secretly wished each other’s horrible deaths, and not at the hands of a malfunctioning slow-cooker.

The story is about the Roys, a New York-based media empire family, set in the world of untold wealth and extraordinary privilege — where the brood flies two helicopters to a semi-friendly family softball game.

But all the private jets, expensive watches and sky-high views over Manhattan aren’t worth the toxicity of being a Roy. Sometimes, watching rich people destroy each other for power and control makes you grateful that you’re forever doomed to slum it in economy.

Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the ageing patriarch is about to hand over the reins of the family media and entertainment business, Waystar Royco, to his second son Kendall (Jeremy Strong), a twitchy executive desperately seeking his father’s approval.

It’s like any other family drama, except the characters all wish the others were dead

Kendall needs to close an acquisition deal with Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang), the founder of a Vice-like “new media” company, and Lawrence’s reluctance to sell is putting Kendall’s succession plans in jeopardy.

On the same day, the whole family is gathered for Logan’s 80th birthday, including his oldest son Connor (Alan Ruck), from Logan’s first marriage, plus political strategist Siobhan (Sarah Snook) and layabout Roman (Kieran Culkin), both from the same marriage as Kendall.

Then there’s Logan’s third wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass), who’s trying to work her way onto the family trust and find favour for her son from an earlier union, Siobhan’s fiance Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun).

Anyone who even seems like an innocent caught in the mind games of the Roys isn’t what they seem — remember that.

Australian actor Sarah Snook plays Siobhan Roy

Unexpectedly, at least to Kendall, the idea that he’s been primed to take over isn’t so clear-cut. Logan isn’t ready to retire and the other siblings sniff out a chance for themselves. When there’s this much money and power involved, you can’t trust anyone, not even blood.

The jostling for position is both hilarious and cringe-worthy — and nasty. But it makes for very good television.

As the season progresses, the momentum really picks up, as does takeover plots and corporate espionage.

Creator Jesse Armstrong had earlier written an unproduced screenplay about the Murdoch family and there are certainly empirical similarities between the Roys and the Murdochs (for example, the Roys own a right-wing cable channel called the Wolf Network).

But Armstrong has said that Succession isn’t directly about the Murdochs, more about wealthy families in general and the twaddle that comes from passing on all that money — he namechecks the Hearsts and the Sinclairs as among the folks he looked to.

The family patriarch Logan Roy is played to perfection by Brian Cox (right)

And you could easily lump the Kushners, the Redstones and the Trumps in there. The way Logan manipulates his children, making them compete for his attention, screams Trump.

A later episode set at a ranch and featuring an all-in family therapy session reveals exactly how people like Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. become the strange characters they are.

The Big Short’s Adam McKay directed the first episode and really established the style and tone of the series — it has the same roving energy and sharpness as his films.

There is much going on in Succession, a cesspool of vultures and terrible people you’d never personally want to know.

But they sure are fun to watch.

Succession starts on Thursday, December 6 at 8.30pm on Fox Showcase. The entire first season will drop on Foxtel Now at the same time.

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