Dirt is an American television drama series created by Matthew Carnahan which stars Courteney Cox as Lucy Spiller, the editor-in-chief of the first-of-its-kind "glossy tabloid" magazine DirtNow.
The series aired in the USA on FX from 2 January, 2007 to 13 April, 2008. There are 20 hour-long episodes in two seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on DStv's M-Net Series channel from 27 June, 2007 to 20 August, 2008. It later aired on DStv's GO channel and on TopTV's Top One channel. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on Top One on Tuesday 30 August 2011, at 21h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are seven episodes in the second season.
Season 1
Dirt is a drama series that chronicles the life of Lucy Spiller, the ruthless, powerful editor-in-chief of the celebrity tabloid magazines Dirt and Now which get amalugumated into one tabloid called DirtNow.
A genius at the art of manipulation, Lucy possesses a maniacal dedication to exposing the truth about Hollywood's luminaries, for reasons even she has yet to fully fathom.
As steadfast photographer Don Konkey constantly provides exclusive, shocking pictures of the rich and famous for Lucy's magazines, the glossy, perfect veneer created by Hollywood is shattered - and available on newsstands every week.
Dirt exposes the truth behind the façade of show business image making, and reveals the lives of those determined to do so, despite often tragic results.
As the series progresses, we learn more about Lucy and Don's personal lives. Don is a functional schizophrenic, who regularly hallucinates and hears voices, which is often filtered through his sense of guilt over the questionable actions he takes in order to help Lucy land her stories and the fall-out that comes from exposing people's dark secrets.
Lucy meanwhile is a secretly depressed person whose life is totally devoted towards the magazine, to the extent of forgoing any sort of social life whatsoever.
Her relationship with her family is strained, in part due to the mysterious suicide of her father, which haunts Lucy due to the cryptic suicide note that he left her, which she kept from the rest of her family.
One of the main subplots of Season 1 is Lucy and Don's relationship with Holt McLaren and the love triangle that erupts between Lucy, Holt, and Holt's current girlfriend Julia Mallory, a popular sitcom star who's begun breaking out into movies while Holt's career has tanked after a series of movies he has done, flopped.
In an attempt to convert Holt into a secret source for potential stories, Lucy offers to use the full resources of her magazine to revive Holt's career.
In exchange, Holt reveals that Julia's best friend is pregnant after a one-night stand with a fellow actor and the actress (who thinks Julia leaked the story) kills herself via a drug overdose as a result of the public humiliation.
Furthermore, Lucy reveals that Julia has cheated on Holt with the co-star of her recently released film, causing Holt to have a mini-breakdown while driving and purposely crashing his car while driving along with Julia.
This causes Julia to suffer severe injuries, which leads to an addiction to painkillers and ultimately full-blown drug addiction.
To revive her career and gain public sympathy, Julia secretly obtains and leaks a copy of her having sex with her co-star and falsely accuses her co-star of rape, though Lucy ultimately exposes her lies in the magazine.
As Holt's star rises and his girlfriend's plummets, Holt and Lucy begin a relationship which ultimately is exposed to Julia by a rival magazine editor/friend of Lucy's.
Julia ultimately realises that Lucy has helped ruined her life and attacks her with a knife, leaving Lucy bleeding to death.
Contacting Don, Season 1 ends with Lucy ordering Don to take the requisite photos of her laying on the ground horribly wounded, in order to ensure that her magazine will be able to have the requisite photos for the story on the attempt on her life.
Season 2
Dirt is a drama series that chronicles the life of Lucy Spiller, the ruthless, powerful editor-in-chief of the celebrity tabloid magazines Dirt and Now which get amalugumated into one tabloid called DirtNow.
A genius at the art of manipulation, Lucy possesses a maniacal dedication to exposing the truth about Hollywood's luminaries, for reasons even she has yet to fully fathom.
As steadfast photographer Don Konkey constantly provides exclusive, shocking pictures of the rich and famous for Lucy's magazines, the glossy, perfect veneer created by Hollywood is shattered - and available on newsstands every week.
Dirt exposes the truth behind the façade of show business image making, and reveals the lives of those determined to do so, despite often tragic results.
The second season of Dirt continues where the first season left off: Lucy lays bleeding and unconscious after a brutal, in-home attack at the hands of actress Julia Mallory, whose career was destroyed by Dirt Now.
Don Konkey struggles to overcome his schizophrenia through medication as he is shattered by Lucy's assault.
Holt McLaren ascends to A-list stardom and has left Julia.
Willa McPherson has ended her affair with Dirt Now publisher Brent Barrow and is no longer the naïve, neophyte reporter on Lucy's staff.
Main Characters
Lucy Spiller
Editor-in-chief of the glossy DirtNow. Powerful, intelligent and ruthless, Lucy’s life is her work.
When it comes to uncovering the truth behind the celebrity faces, Lucy knows no limits. Her personal circle includes a schizophrenic photographer, Don, and her younger brother, Leo.
Lucy will come to learn that the truth is never black and white and that every action has a consequence.
Leo Spiller
Leo Spiller is Lucy's promiscuous younger brother. If Lucy is all head, Leo is all heart.
Lucy and Leo’s close bond enables them to deal with their distant, difficult mother. After Leo’s private life intersects with Lucy’s magazine, the siblings are forced to re-examine their relationship.
Julia Mallory
Julia Mallory is a beloved A-list movie and television star. Following tragic news and a horrific accident, Julia’s formerly recreational drug habit spins out of control.
Through the series Julia struggles to regain her place in Hollywood and maintain her relationship with her boyfriend, Holt McLaren.
Holt McLaren
Holt McLaren is a struggling actor stuck in the shadow of his successful girlfriend, Julia Mallory, and on the B list - until he meets Don and Lucy. Holt trades whatever he can for a place on the A-list.
Brent Barrow
Brent Barrow is the publisher of Dirt and Now magazines. As the business overseer for both publications, Brent is frequently at odds with Lucy.
Despite their fractious relationship, Brent relies on Lucy’s exclusives to bring in hot advertisers.
Willa McPherson
Willa is a reporter for the Dirt and Now who'll go to extremest lengths to get a scoopy story that pleases Lucy.
In between chasing the dirt she's involved in a non-commitment romantic relationship with Brent Barrow.
Seasons
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 27 Jun 2007 | Finale: 19 Sep 2007 | Wednesdays, 21h00
Channel: GO | Premiere: 4 Dec 2007 | Finale: 26 Feb 2008 | Tuesdays, 21h30
Channel: Top One | Premiere: 4 May 2010 | Finale: 27 Jul 2010 | Tuesdays, 21h00
Season 2 (7 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 9 Jul 2008 | Finale: 20 Aug 2008 | Wednesdays, 21h00
Channel: Top One | Premiere: 30 Aug 2011 | Finale: 11 Oct 2011 | Tuesdays, 21h00