via NPR:

In The Spoils of Babylon, Will Ferrell plays a "nonexistent author of a nonexistent best-seller." His book, written in the 1970s, was supposedly made into a television miniseries that never saw the light of day — until now.

The story begins in the 1930s, and spans about 50 years, following the powerful Morehouse family.

The series is a parody of the big, bloated miniseries of the 1970s and '80s (like The Thorn Birds or The Winds of War), filled with family drama in a changing America.

It begins Thursday on IFC, starring Tobey Maguire, Kristen Wiig and Ferrell. Former Saturday Night Live writer Matt Piedmont directs the series. In an interview with NPR's Arun Rath, Piedmont says he worked with Ferrell's Funny or Die production team to bring this tale to the small screen.

Actor Tim Robbins plays the patriarch, bringing his family to Texas to become an oil wildcatter. Along the way, the family adopts a guy off the side of the road (Devon, played by Maguire). The family strikes it rich, but the adopted son and his new sister, played by Wiig, fall in love.

Devon goes off to war — where he's held as a prisoner of war — then comes back and becomes a beat poet. Wiig's character takes over the company.

"They're trying to avoid their love for each other, which is very difficult," Piedmont says.