Art Imitates Life as FX Digs Up More Dirt

Everyone was giving scoop at the season premiere of Courteney Cox's FX series, Dirt, on Thursday evening. According to the cast, viewers can expect more ripped-from-the-headlines plots and familiar celebrity characters this season, including one about a very publicly drunk male star - inspired by David Hasselhoff - and crazy antics from the Britney-inspired character "Sharlee Cates" (played by Ashley Johnson).
Coexecutive producer and Cox hubby David Arquette - who directed an episode this season - told TV Guide that sometimes, real life imitates what happens on the show and not the other way around, as viewers may suspect.
"We want it to be current so we try to predict things before they happen," said Arquette. "We did something with our Britney character that actually came true. There's a relationship with a paparazzi that we filmed before it actually happened, so when it happened, we were like, 'Whoa. That's interesting.'"
The cast couldn't give away all the details, but everyone was buzzing about the Hasselhoff-esque character, who'll appear in the season's second episode. Though Cox maintains that most of the characters on the show are based on "hybrids... not just one person," actor Ryan Egghold (who plays reporter Farber Kauffman) admitted The Hoff was indeed the inspiration behind the "Jimmy Darby" character (played by comedian Tom Arnold). Can parodying real-life celebrities - who may run in the same circles as the show's cast - become an occupational hazard?
"I certainly hope not, because David Hasselhoff could whip my butt!" said Egghold. "The funny thing is we have the same agent, but I've never met him."
As for Cox, she's hoping that no one will take the parodies too seriously. "I don't think we're doing anything to hurt anybody, and hopefully people know that we're doing television," she said. "The people who we write about are in the tabloids every single week so I can't imagine we're saying anything worse than what's already been said."
Season 2 of Dirt premieres Sunday, March 2, on FX. - Clare Kleinedler