Don't Bother Getting "Dirt"y
It’s fitting that one of the main characters on “Dirt” is schizophrenic, because the show is pretty much all over the place itself.
The first 10 minutes of the premiere pulled you right in as we meet Lucy, the editor of “Drrt,” a celebrity tabloid. She’s threatened by a studio chief (Harvey Weinstein in a cameo) who recounts her numerous sins as she sizes up her latest stories. The scenery is gorgeous, the direction is first-rate and Courteney Cox slides right into Lucy’s slithery skin.
Unfortunately, those 10 minutes were the best we got.
The show spent most of the hour trying to convince us that Lucy is a completely heartless and ruthless you-know-what. She hires a prostitute to get kinky with a pro basketball star. She tricks a struggling actor into dishing dirt on his friends and then blackmails him when he wants to stop. But when her scheming results in a death, she shows some humanity—just when we were starting to buy into her character. Even worse, Cox never quite lives up to those opening minutes. She should be sinking her teeth into this one, but instead, she comes off more stiff than seductive.
It’s the supporting characters that end up carrying the show, but they’re too over the top to hold your interest. Making Don, Lucy’s star photographer, schizophrenic is a good twist, but it goes too far as we have to sit through therapy sessions and listen to Don’s pill bottles play music (You’d have to see it to understand—if even then.). Plus, we spend WAY too much time with Don’s cancer-stricken cat.
Celebrity couple Holt and Julia are a walking Hollywood cliché as they do drugs at parties and commit sex acts in public places. Josh Stewart does a good job of making Holt seem like a more complicated character—especially after he betrays Julia—but the ridiculous story gets the better of him.
“Dirt” spends a lot of time trying to shock us with the drug use, hookups and sex toys. But what is supposed to be shocking, just comes off as silly—which unfortunately is most of the show.
It’s great to see Courteney Cox back on TV. It just would’ve been nice if she’d chosen something worth watching…
“Dirt” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX…
The first 10 minutes of the premiere pulled you right in as we meet Lucy, the editor of “Drrt,” a celebrity tabloid. She’s threatened by a studio chief (Harvey Weinstein in a cameo) who recounts her numerous sins as she sizes up her latest stories. The scenery is gorgeous, the direction is first-rate and Courteney Cox slides right into Lucy’s slithery skin.
Unfortunately, those 10 minutes were the best we got.
The show spent most of the hour trying to convince us that Lucy is a completely heartless and ruthless you-know-what. She hires a prostitute to get kinky with a pro basketball star. She tricks a struggling actor into dishing dirt on his friends and then blackmails him when he wants to stop. But when her scheming results in a death, she shows some humanity—just when we were starting to buy into her character. Even worse, Cox never quite lives up to those opening minutes. She should be sinking her teeth into this one, but instead, she comes off more stiff than seductive.
It’s the supporting characters that end up carrying the show, but they’re too over the top to hold your interest. Making Don, Lucy’s star photographer, schizophrenic is a good twist, but it goes too far as we have to sit through therapy sessions and listen to Don’s pill bottles play music (You’d have to see it to understand—if even then.). Plus, we spend WAY too much time with Don’s cancer-stricken cat.
Celebrity couple Holt and Julia are a walking Hollywood cliché as they do drugs at parties and commit sex acts in public places. Josh Stewart does a good job of making Holt seem like a more complicated character—especially after he betrays Julia—but the ridiculous story gets the better of him.
“Dirt” spends a lot of time trying to shock us with the drug use, hookups and sex toys. But what is supposed to be shocking, just comes off as silly—which unfortunately is most of the show.
It’s great to see Courteney Cox back on TV. It just would’ve been nice if she’d chosen something worth watching…
“Dirt” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX…
