Hiding in plain sight

Posted by Maggie January 3rd, 2007 at 11:49am In General

Did you know there's this whole other network out there making original dramas, called FX? I sure didn't. But the relentless advertising for Courtney Cox's new show on every website that I frequent and the lack of other new programming forced me to acknowledge this renegade channel last night. FX exists. It's out there. Know this.

You remember — it's the channel with The Closer, though as Dan says, I'm not entirely convinced that show really exists.(update: no. that's TNT. whoops!) It also has The Shield and Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which wins worst opening credits sequence ever — and I don't care if it's bad on purpose). I watch none of these shows, except for IASIP, that one time, though I hear on the whole they're pretty good. 

Dirt, the aforementioned Courtney Cox show, is about a gossip magazine editor sort of like Janice Min or many other frequently Gawkered media types. She's as cold as ice — she can make you or break you — she trusts no one — etc, etc, etc. Like Damian said, her hair is so big because it's full of secrets.

The pilot introduces her, some celebrities in trouble, her boss, and some of her staff. The best part, and for me the biggest reason to keep watching so far, is Don, Courtney Cox's schizophrenic pet paparazzi, who is amazing at his job (soulless and reprehensible as it is), totally nuts, and obviously incredibly sweet despite it all. I love Don.

The intimate lives of the rich and famous, and those that make their money making you care, is an interesting setting; I'm a sucker for a hopping newsroom, even if the "news" is who's cheating on who. Courtney Cox is smart and I like her, though I hope her character will move out of the powerful-bitch-woman cliches soon. All in all, I was almost convinced that this is a show I want to watch regularly — I just wished it were 10% snappier.

So snap it up, FX, or I may have to forget that I ever rediscovered you in the first place.

And nice work with Don.