What I'm Watching: Dirt (Season Finale)

Dirt: Season 1, Episode 13 "Ita Missa Est" (F)

Dirt started off interesting, but at a lower quality level than the other FX original series (The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Thief). I stuck with it for a few episodes, then gave up when it got very bad and didn't get any better, and returned to see how it all played out. It felt as if I had missed nothing, that is, that little had actually happened aside from the downspiraling of all of the characters. I suppose Courteney Cox is the right actress for the lead role, and Ian Hart, as schizophrenic Don, is certainly very well cast. But the addition of Jennifer Aniston as a rival magazine editor is awful. Even NBC's dreadful Friends spinoff "Joey" was prepared to wait a few seasons to have a former Friend guest star (though it was axed during its second season and never got the chance). And the promotion of the episode's brief kiss between Aniston and Cox did the show a great dishonor - reducing an entire plotline to a stunt attempted to boost ratings. Aniston, who showed decent dramatic acting skills in films like "Derailed" and in some of her scenes in "Friends with Money" and "The Break-Up," is essentially playing a wannabe-obnoxious and mean version of Rachel Green, and the character falls flat. The episode itself feels more and more like one of Don's schizophrenic hallucinations, and its ending is at the time predictable and preposterous. I would hope that this is the show's series finale, but only time will tell.

Next week at this time: Tune in to FX for the season premiere of "The Shield." It should be great!