FX's 'Dirt': A Wickedly Good Wallow In Hollywood

Despite the sleaziness of his trade, Konkey is an endearing and highly colorful creature, a schizophrenic who must be heavily medicated to prevent such hallucinations as drops of rain turning to blood as they fall, or the word "okay" appearing in the air after he utters it, then turning into a worm and crawling away. Assigned to photograph a dead actress just before she is cremated, Konkey imagines her literally embraced by flames, and that is but the beginning of what is arguably TV's weirdest romance ever.

Already mourning a cat lost to cancer, Konkey in effect takes the dead actress home with him -- or at least his imaginary image of her. His vulnerability, hidden from the world by a brash and abusive manner (at a premiere, he loudly recites one actor's last seven flops as the man walks by on the red carpet), makes him a kind of centrifugal center for the series.

"Dirt" leaps out of the starting gate with a party scene in the best tradition of tawdry affairs. Spiller looks at the guests and imagines how they'd look on the cover of her magazine. A fat man named Harvey complains that a divorce "cost me two of my three houses; in Hollywood, that's practically homeless."

Unless your critic's DVD player deceived him, the premiere runs 54 minutes, about 10 longer than the usual one-hour drama minus commercials. Ads for the show say the sole sponsor, at least on opening night, has reduced the amount of advertising time, a savvy gambit that more networks and sponsors might consider.

In the third episode, Spiller declares, uncharacteristically, "I believe in the truth above all else." She sounds more like herself late in the premiere when she tells a staffer, "You know what we love here at Dirt and Now? Homemade porn." It's a pity that Cox doesn't give the character a few shadings and subtleties that might make us root for her, but except when she's facing the mercilessly mercenary owner, she's hardly the kind of character in which to make an emotional investment.

"Dirt" is no celebration of the human spirit, that's for sure. And there's good reason to question how many of these cruel, cynical shows -- some but hardly all of them on FX -- TV viewers can weather. But considered independently, as an artfully smirking piece of work, "Dirt" is both nasty and tasty -- a very guilty pleasure perhaps best spoken of in dark alleys. Or watched through a keyhole.

Dirt (one hour) premieres tonight at 10 on FX.