Dirt (FX)

Courteney Cox gets down and dirty in this dark cable drama about the love-hate relationship between a tabloid 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. Spiller's closest friend, schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey (Ian Hart), lives in a surreal state swirling with imaginary characters, words that come to life, and musical pill bottles. Meanwhile, the celebrities, while hounded by Spiller's hungry staff for the tawdry details of their lives, deal with their own dark issues. For example, star Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) 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.

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, mentally ill paparazzo Don Konkey is much more interesting to watch. 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.

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.