'The Spoils Of Babylon' Trailer Previews Will Ferrell's Dark New IFC Miniseries

Explaining Will Ferrell's new IFC miniseries "The Spoils of Babylon" is a difficult task, but after watching the first trailer, we have a feeling you're going to be very, very excited.

The show, which premieres on Thursday, January 9 at 10 p.m., revolves around a wealthy family in Texas whose oil riches grow into a vast empire headed by the family patriarch, played by Tim Robbins. His daughter, played by Kristen Wiig, and his son, played by Tobey Maguire, are to inherit the business, but as you can see in the trailer, they're met with challenges presented by drug lords, gangs, the government and pretty much any other high-stakes obstacle you can think of. Also, Wiig and Maguire's characters fall into a passionate yet forbidden love affair.

Based on the trailer, the tone of the show looks like some kind of hybrid between "Twin Peaks" and "Breaking Bad." In other words, "The Spoils of Babylon" appears to play the comedy with no winking.

Will Ferrell opens and closes each episode as best-selling author Eric Jonrosh, who wrote the book upon which "The Spoils of Babylon" is based. (Neither Eric Jonrosh nor the book are real.)

In addition to Ferrell, Robbins, Wiig and Maguire, the miniseries includes an all-star cast composed of Carey Mulligan, Jessica Alba, Michael Sheen, Haley Joel Osment, Val Kilmer and Steve Tom. Funny Or Die is producing "The Spoils of Babylon," and Matt Piedmont and Andrew Steele co-created it.

IFC gets much credit for greenlighting the seemingly quite bizarre miniseries, continues the cable channel's strategy for taking risks with its comedy programming. Today, they announced that their off-kilter talk show "Comedy Bang! Bang!" has been renewed for a third season.