Network: FX; Genre: Drama; Content Rating: TV-MA (for strong language, simulated sex, drug use and violence); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);
Seasons Reviewed: 2 seasons
Lucy Spiller (Courteney Cox-Arquette) is the ruthless producer of the salacious tabloid DirtNow Magazine who uses her schizophrenic best-friend photographer Don Konkey (an absolutely phenomenal Ian Hart) and fresh-faced, wide-eyed freshman reporter just waiting to be ruined by the industry Willa (Alexandra Breckenridge) to sneak into the lives of Hollywood's rich and famous to get the story. One of those celebrities is Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) who like many of the celebrities makes a deal with Lucy to be her source if certain information is kept under wraps.
The latest and best series produced by the Arquettes (it's a hell of a lot better than "Daisy Does America") and created by Matthew Carnahan ("Fastlane"), "Dirt" is TV's first attempt at taking a bite out of the paparazzi - and I can't think of a target more full of potential and deserving of satire. Despite this, "Dirt" falters under the kind of shallow sleaze, manipulation and sensationalism that it should be satirizing.
For the show's many faults, the last thing going wrong here are the performances. The show gives us the opportunity to see a leaner, meaner Courteney Cox and frankly I'd rather watch Lucy Spiller over Monica Geller any day. This is what Cox does best and it is a blast watching her slink through this role like a Siamese cat. But it gets better. Ian Hart's performance, as a the schizophrenic Don who will do anything (even sacrifice his own fingers) to get the shot for Lucy, is one of those performances that makes the entire show worth watching. Just to see him. It's a one-of-a-kind character, the sympathetic paparazzo, whose schizophrenia opens up the show to some surreal visual moments involving talking cats, talking corpses and a showdown between two Dons. This is Emmy worthy stuff and the relationship between Don and Lucy is kind of sweet.
Maybe Carnahan and the Arquettes are to angry at the paparazzi and it's clouding the teleplays. "Dirt" is an nasty, unpleasant show that many times, despite such fine performances form the leads, is a hard hour to get through. It's ugly/sleazy like "Nip/Tuck" seasons 4 and 5, not fun/sleazy like "Nip/Tuck" seasons 1 and 2. If you know what I mean.
What really grinds my gears about the show is the "ripped from the headlines" vibe it pushes on us in which it takes actual celebrities and scandals and simply re-creating the events. The would-be satire is as transparent and amateurishly thrown together as anything I've ever seen. "Dirt" characters stand in for Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Remember when Britney locked her kids in the car? Remember when David Hasselhof got drunk and ate steak off the floor? And remember about 5 years ago when Madonna and Britney Spears lip-locked at the VMAs? Yeah, real timely "Dirt". So in addition to being years after "South Park" has covered the respective celebrity ground, "Dirt" add no next-level insight. In the hands of someone else, someone like Ryan Murphy, "Dirt" could have made one wild & crazy dark comedy. "Nip/Tuck" at it's worst is still a challenge.
The show can't quite achieve the ambitious feat it is trying to pull off. And there in lies my love/hate for it. It goes for the celebrity culture jugular, but does so in such a shallow way that it can't quite articulate it's point and falls flat time and again. It tries to take us into the world of the paparazzi, showing us just how sleazy they are but is unable to keep from rising up from that sleaze itself to get to that necessary pedestal where it can look down upon it condescendingly. Which is what we need.
The characters do what they are supposed to do, no they are not likable and they aren't supposed to be - but you've still got to give me some reason to stick with them. This anti-hero stuff is right up FXs ally which makes it all the more disappointing (and a little perplexing) to watch "Dirt" break the network's roll of high quality output.
* * / 4
