Dirt (2007-2008)

Courteney Cox Arquette and Jeffrey Nordling star on Dirt. (Photo: Fox)

Starring: Courteney Cox, Ian Hart, Will McCormack

A radically cast-against-type Courteney Cox was the star of the wickedly satirical FX drama series Dirt. Cox was cast as Lucy Spiller, the ruthless, conniving editor of the tell-all tabloid magazines "Dirt" and "Now." Dedicated to the proposition that absolutely nothing was sacred in the world of celebrity journalism, Lucy mercilessly drove her minions -- and herself -- to dredge up as many negative and injurious facts as possible about the rich and famous of the entertainment industry, deploying bribery, arm-twisting, blackmail, and any other nasty means at her disposal. Lucy's chief partner in grime was the magazine's "functional schizophrenic" ace photographer Don Konkey (Ian Hart), whose many bizarre personality quirks included a lengthy romance with a dead woman. As if to tweak the noses of the real-life "tabs" who'd made life hell for former Friends leading lady Courteney Cox and her film-star husband, David Arquette (with whom she co-produced the series), Dirt included a subplot involving the relentless hounding of actor Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) and his sitcom-star girlfriend Julia Mallory (Laura Allen) -- who, in a perverse comic twist, were depicted in a decidedly unsympathetic and unflattering light. Others in the cast were Timothy Bottoms as megalomanic magazine owner Gibson Home and Jeffrey Nordling as soulless publisher Brent Barrow. Debuting January 2, 2007, Dirt was, amazingly enough, put together by a subsidiary of Disney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide