Cougar Town, Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence’s buzzworthy half-hour comedy pilot starring Friends alum Courteney Cox, is busily beefing up its cast. If greenlit for a season, the series will follow Cox’s 40-year-old character, the mother of a teenage son who begins actively dating again when she becomes single.

Recently added to the cast of the highly anticipated series is Dawson’s Creek and Freaks and Geeks alum Busy Philipps, most recently seen in a recurring role on Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. As a series lead, she’ll play the younger woman who hangs out with Cox’s character.

Following on that news was the addition of Lawrence’s real-life wife Christa Miller (Scrubs, The Drew Carey Show) as Cox’s other best friend, as well as former Aliens in America star Dan Byrd, the lucky guy playing Cox’s son. I don’t see the resemblance there at all, but Byrd is talented and I trust that Lawrence knows what he’s doing.

As loyal Scrubs fans already know, last night the show made its eighth-season debut on its new home network ABC with the back-to-back episodes “My Jerks” and “My Last Words.”

On the first episode, the Sacred Heart gang meets new Chief of Medicine Dr. Taylor Maddox, played by competent Courteney Cox (sorry, all of you prepared to rag on her performance), who initially comes across as a sickeningly sunny and upbeat boss.

Never fear, though, because as the second episode makes clear, she has more than a few issues to help her fit in with the already quite quirky staff. A prime example is her tendency to care more about patients’ ability to pay up than the hospital’s ability to treat everyone who comes through the doors. Even The Janitor doesn’t phase her when he refuses to reveal his name (“The Janitor” reads his clip-on ID tag, ever so helpfully).

“My Jerks” also introduces us to Sacred Heart’s newest crop of extremely inept but memorable interns, including Aziz Ansari’s Ed, the one who has the power to instantly coin new phrases and convince everyone to follow along, and my personal favorite, Eliza Coupe’s super bitchy Denise, whose ultra negative, overly honest attitude and observations make it a teensy bit difficult for her to relate to patients … and most other human beings.

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When Scrubs makes its ABC premiere at 9pm EST on January 6, lucky fans will get two back-to-back episodes: “My Jerk” and “My Last Words.”

On the first installment, “My Jerk,” technically the show’s eighth-season premiere, Friends alum Courteney Cox guests stars as Sacred Heart’s new boss, incoming Chief of Staff Dr. Maddox.

She’s described as a “beautiful but unethical replacement” for Dr. Kelso, which means she should fit right in with the rest of the generally good-looking yet trouble-maker staff.

Meanwhile, J.D. will have his hands full with a new group of unbelievably inept interns — a predicament Dr. Cox is going to just love, love, love — and it will be up to Carla to make sure Elliott’s head doesn’t blow up too big.

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Friends and Dirt alumna Courteney Cox isn’t wasting any time getting back on the TV comedy horse. The actress has a much-publicized guest-star stint on the now-ABC sitcom Scrubs, which opens its eighth and first non-NBC season Tuesday, January 6, with the premiere “My Jerks.”

In the meantime, the Alphabet Network has released preview footage of Cox appearing on the show as Sacred Heart’s new Chief of Medicine. Take a look at it and an extended Season Eight trailer after the jump.

And by the way: If Cox isn’t enough Friends benefits for you, keep in mind that her former colleague Matthew Perry is also scheduled to do some time in the hospital’s wacky halls during the upcoming season. I like.

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There’s good news today for Dirt fans still trying to get over the fact that FX canceled the gossipy show after its strike-shortened sophomore season. Friends veteran Courteney Cox is heading to ABC’s Scrubs in the fall, where she’ll play the new Chief of Medicine at Sacred Heart on three episodes.

Going from a demanding magazine editor to head doctor at a zany hospital is quite a move, and the actress’ latest character will reportedly cause a stir among at least a few of the drama-obsessed staff members … as if fans would settle for anything less.

Is it just me, though, or do others agree that Cox doesn’t seem to be a proper fit for this show? I just can’t picture her doing the whole quirky oddball thing, which makes it fortunate her upcoming role is just a limited guest-star gig. But I’m definitely curious to see how her appearance works out.

Bad news here, Dirt and Courteney Cox fans.

Basic-cable network FX has decided not to renew the tabloid dramedy for a third season. Star Cox broke the recent development to TV Guide yesterday, revealing that she and her husband David Arquette, co-producers of the series, still plan to carry on with other projects.

Good for them. I can understand why the network ditched the series — it’s the ratings, folks — but I also think the show was still in need of a little more time to discover itself and decide where it was going after a strike-shortened sophomore season.

So long.

The big night has finally arrived for Dirt fans, namely the early second-season finale “In Lieu of Flowers…”

Don’t forget to tune in to see Lucy examining her life, Willa and Farber dealing with a challenging former child star, and a famous sitcom cast member going to great lengths to avoid winding up in Dirt Now.

If those who love the show are lucky, FX will announce a third-season renewal in the near future.

Dirt airs Sundays on FX at 10pm EST.

Original Air Date: April 6, 2008

NOTE: This series and recap contain mature themes and language.

Everybody’s going to the Hollywood Gold Awards. After the red-carpet arrivals, it’s time for last year’s Best Actress winner, HOLT MCLAREN’s forthcoming co-star JASMINE FORD (Guest Star Rochelle Aytes), to help announce this year’s Best Male Actor winner. Unfortunately, after a supposed 13 months of being booze-free, she shows up on the stage acting drunk and almost immediately vomits for all to see. And, since the show is telecast live, everyone watching does just that.

Jasmine is taken to the hospital, while LUCY hurriedly dispatches WILLA and FARBER to investigate. The reporters eventually learn from the actress’ representative that she really has been sober for over a year, while her pro-athlete ex-husband TREY PAULSON (Guest Star Victor Webster) reveals he has no motive since he has a pre-nup agreement that gets him half of what she earns.

Following the embarrassing incident, it’s likely Jasmine will loose her starring role in the upcoming film, especially since the movie studio didn’t want to bond her in the first place. When Farber calls a friend on the inside and learns the studio had buyer’s remorse about Jasmine from the get-go and even tried to persuade her people to let them put her on a different film, he and Willa realize its possible someone from the studio may have drugged the actress to get the studio out of the contract.

Elsewhere, BRENT BARROW informs his boss ADAM PROTEAU (Julian Acosta) that Gibson has changed his mind about not including the rights to DirtNow brand extensions, such as book rights and TV specials, in the sale. He’ll now sell them to Adam for just $1 in order to avoid having to pay millions of dollars in tax liabilities; Adam doesn’t have to worry about those since his business is multinational.

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The premature second-season finale of Dirt arrives on April 13, courtesy of the WGA strike.

The episode “In Lieu of Flowers…” will help the series wrap things up on a (hopefully) high note with Lucy examining her life, Willa and Farber dealing with a challenging former child star, and a famous sitcom cast member going to great lengths to avoid winding up in Dirt Now.

There’s no word yet on whether Dirt will survive past the current season. Since many were shocked the show made it to a second season in the first place, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen renewal-wise. You’ve been warned, fans.

Dirt airs Sundays on FX at 10pm EST.

Rosanna Arquette, the sister of series lead Courteney Cox’s husband, guest stars on the April 6 episode of Dirt.

On “And the Winner Is…” the Dirt Now staff covers the backstage shenanigans at an awards show, and Brent tries to look good for his new boss.

Dirt airs Sundays on FX at 10pm EST.