The Fun of Dirt

Dirt is a new, edgy drama uleashed by FX about five weeks ago. It stars Courtney Cox as Lucy Spiller, the cold, balls-to-the-wall editor of two magazines--Dirt and Now. By the third episode, she's managed to convince the owner to merge them into one rag called Dirt Now. She and her staff scare up salacious (and somehow vaguely familiar) Hollywood gossip, including a dead rapper's head in a jar and pics of a dead, pregnant starlet. They also demonstrate how they get and protect their sources.

But the best part about Dirt isn't that Courney Cox plays so against her Friends stereotype, that she cusses like a sailor, or gives a rabid toast at her own mother's wedding. No, the best part about Dirt is ace photographer Don Konkey, played by Ian Hart. Don went to journalism school with Lucy and always comes through for her...but he's schizophrenic. For the record, schizophrenia itself is NOT great, but the way Hart plays it is spellbinding. He's nailed it to the floor, and I can't look away.

Dirt airs on FX on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST, and reruns Saturday and Sunday late nights on FX.