10-11 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2
FX

We live in an age of celebrity. People are famous for being famous and marketed like soda. Now there are cable channels, syndicated programs and publishing empires that exist simply to meet the demand for intimate details about people who are of no consequence in our personal lives.

"Dirt" opens the doors to one such enterprise, a sensational tabloid edited by Lucy Spiller (Courteney Cox). Spiller is obsessed with the quest for scandalous details. And if she can't find any, her magazine gladly will pay someone to manufacture them. Not surprisingly, Spiller also is delusional, having convinced herself that she is really on a mission to uncover truth.

Her most trusted ally and chief henchman is a resourceful paparazzo whose delusions are more of the classical psychotic variety. Ian Hart plays functional schizophrenic Don Konkey, whom Lucy met in journalism school where, apparently, both ignored everything that was taught.

Matthew Carnahan, who created the series and wrote and directed its premiere, fashions a world that is dark and simplistic. His Hollywood is a nest of vipers. Actors, agents, producers, reporters -- even nannies to the stars -- they're all the same. Everyone is corrupt or corruptible, shallow, self-absorbed and, usually, addicted.

That dismal set of characteristics extends to the main characters as well. Though Carnahan gives Lucy and Konkey texture, they remain starkly unappealing. Hart delivers a tender portrayal of Konkey, a wounded soul. In the end, though, the guy has no more conscience than a serial killer. Cox's Lucy is less well defined, reveling in her power one moment and displaying a touch of emotional vulnerability the next.

Together, they go to great lengths, including blackmail and entrapment, to destroy celebrities' lives. And yet they are surprisingly apathetic about the pain they leave in their wake. For Lucy, its all about newsstand sales. For Konkey, it's all about being loyal to Lucy. For viewers, it's all about becoming weary of the ongoing warfare between the scorpions and the snakes.

Is Carnahan putting us on? Are we trying to overanalyze what might be mere camp? Not likely. Although several characters are refugees from central casting, there is too much of an earnest streak running through "Dirt" to dismiss it as a breathless soap. So let's give Cox credit for trying something a galaxy away from Monica of "Friends" and acknowledge Hart's acting chops and then maybe let it go at that.

DIRT
FX
Touchstone Television and FX productions in association with Coquette Prods.
Credits:
Executive producers: Matthew Carnahan, David Arquette, Joel Fields, Courteney Cox
Co-executive producer: Chris Long, Dave Flebotte
Consulting producer: Sally Robinson
Line producer: Sascha Schneider
Producer: Thea Mann
Creator-director-writer: Matthew Carnahan
Director of photography: Geary McLeod
Production designer: Eve Cauley Turner
Editors: Chris Cibelli, Robin Katz, Jill D'Agnenica
Music: Rick Ziegler
Set designer: Ron Olsen
Casting: Molly Lopata, Barbara Fiorentino, Jessie Disla
Cast:
Lucy Spiller: Courteney Cox
Don Konkey: Ian Hart
Holt McLaren: Josh Stewart
Brent Barrow: Jeffrey Nordling
Julia Mallory: Laura Allen
Prince Tyreese: Rick Fox
Kira Klay: Shannyn Sossamon
Gibson Horne: Timothy Bottoms
Willa McPherson: Alexandra Breckenridge
Leo Spiller: Will McCormack