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Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this adults-only cable drama features explicit sex scenes including topless women, bare-bottomed men, and (hidden) sex toy usage. Drug use is rampant, including one scene of cocaine being snorted by a pregnant woman while she commits suicide. One attractive, appealing character is a drug dealer, while the celebrities portrayed are sometimes complex -- both backstabbing and sympathetic. Some creepy, if unique, elements include a pregnant ghost woman in a romantic relationship with a (live) mentally ill man.

Families can discuss celebrities, privacy, and paparazzi. How much privacy are celebrities entitled to? What limits should paparazzi follow? Do you buy gossip magazines? Do you think these magazines endanger the lives or safety of celebrities? Do movie stars agree to be followed by photographers by virtue of their chosen business? Why is our society so obsessed with stars' private lives? Does a show like this reinforce that obsession or undermine it? How do the media skew our impressions of celebrities?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Sierra Filucci

Former Friend Courteney Cox gets down and dirty in this dark cable drama about a tabloid and the love-hate relationship between the magazine and the celebrities it covers. She stars as Dirt editor-in-chief Lucy Spiller, whose steely ambition keeps her at the top of the gossip rag game as she pulls in stories about celebs' sex- and drug-crazed lives.

Just as the tabloids can be an addictive guilty pleasure, DIRT feeds the public's fascination with Hollywood and celebrity culture and offers some compelling characters and quirky plot elements. While Cox's Spiller comes off a little flat, her closest friend, schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey (Ian Hart), is much more interesting to watch. His mental illness allows producers to play around with some surreal elements, like imaginary characters, words that come to life, and musical pill bottles. Though most would agree that Konkey's type of voyeuristic, long-lens photography is morally reprehensible, his character elicits sympathy and some of the rare tender moments in this otherwise salacious drama.

Meanwhile, the celebrities, while hounded by Spiller's hungry staff for the tawdry details of their lives, don't come off as angels. Far from it. One major character (Josh Stewart playing Edward Norton look-alike Holt McLaren) sells out his girlfriend for a chance at fame, with tragic results. Another celeb sleeps with a hooker while presenting a scrubbed-clean family-man image to the public (perhaps based on Denzel Washington?).

Like other FX dramas, Dirt is most certainly not for kids, even most teens. Characters take drugs with abandon -- snorting cocaine, smoking pot, and popping ecstasy (even while pregnant). One occasional character is a beautiful drug dealer who flirts with the young starlets she supplies. And sex scenes are explicit, including topless women, bare-bottomed men, and lots of sexy talk.

Mature fans might enjoy Nip/Tuck and Entourage. Or, for a reality-show take on similar subject matter, try Paparazzi.

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Content
		CS	adults	kids
Sexual Content Extreme sexual content, including nudity. Character has spirited pool-side sex with a hooker. Lots of moaning and sex talk.
Violence Occasional violence, including an intense kicking and punching scene. One character commits suicide by drug overdose.
Language Only the most extreme language is omitted. Frequent uses of "s--t," "ass," "dick," etc. are loud and clear
Message
	Social Behavior Both sides -- the celebrities and the tabloids -- have momentarily redeeming moments, but mostly they're backstabbing, pill-popping, promiscious folks.
	Commercialism Blatant product placement: Pontiac, Range Rover, Treo, Dell, and a mention of Dancing With the Stars.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Constant drinking and drug use -- coke, ecstasy, marijuana.

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