Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

January 03, 2007

Dirt: It's Dirty

Last night on FX the new show Dirt, starring Courtney Cox, had its commercial-free premiere. I had seen signs at the mall advertising the show, as well as ads on television. I hadn't planned on watching it, but happened to wander downstairs where my husband was finishing up a viewing of Spiderman II. Dirt followed, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The show revolves around the glamorous editor Lucy Spiller (Cox) of the celebrity tabloid Dirt, and how she both gets her stories and manages her unruly staff and personal life. We see celebrities at their worst: drinking, drugging, and having sex with just about anything that moves. The stories Spiller is after are just as sleazy as the methods she employs to get them (for example, setting up a star basketball player with a paid floozy in order to get pictures of them "getting it on" in a hot tub).

You might have to double-check your channel listing as you watch: it's like watching one of those soft-porn networks. Not much is left to the imagination, and the producers pull out as many stops as they are allowed on a non-premium cable station.

The sleazy reporter/photographer Spiller uses for many of her scoops needs medication to keep his hallucinations in check. The rest of her staff seems to be incompetent. (One of them text messages a colleague during a meeting and calls Spiller a b*tch. Spiller can view all of these messages. She fires the woman on the spot and puts the recipient of the message on notice.)

Cox is beautiful and glamorous, but looks like she could use a good meal. (The last time I saw hollow cheeks like that I was watching a Save the Children commerical.) Her character, Lucy Spiller, is a far cry from the neurotic but good-hearted Monica Geller from Friends. She's ruthless and, as a result, seems to be friendless. Not exactly a great role model...

Instead of being titillated, I was disgusted. I made it through about 20-25 minutes before changing the channel to a special about the Egyptian pyramids. I was actually embarrassed for having sat through as much as I did. The celebrity world may be inhabited with sleazy characters, but I could do without that much detail. And even though it's on at 10:00 pm, the idea that kids could be watching this dreck makes me very uncomfortable.

If the people want it, they'll watch it. However, I'm hoping that Dirt gets wiped on the doormat and shaken out during housecleaning. There's enough sleaze on television already.

You'll need a shower after watching Dirt