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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Monday | April 7

• Samantha Who?: The freshman season re-opens for business with The Girlfriend. [9:32pm EST/ABC]

Tuesday | April 8

• Boston Legal: This legal dramedy extraordinaire returns from hiatus with Tabloid Nation. [10:02pm EST/ABC]

Thursday | April 10

• 30 Rock: TGS and crew are back from the writers-strike zone with MILF Island. [8:30pm EST/NBC]
• The Office: The first new episode this spring is The Dinner Party. [9pm EST/NBC]
• Scrubs: Season seven continues at last with My Bad Too. [9:31pm EST/NBC]
• Eli Stone: Married with Children and 8 Simple Rules star Katey Sagal begins her first of two guest-star appearances on Patience. [10pm EST/ABC]

Sunday | April 13

• Monk/Psych: Sunday nights in April are reserved for replays of episodes from these popular USA series on sister broadcast channel NBC. [8pm & 9pm EST/NBC]
• Desperate Housewives: Those Wisteria Lane vixens are on the tube anew with the appropriately titled Sunday. [9pm EST/ABC]
• Dirt: Courteney Cox and company bid adieu with the early second-season finale In Lieu of Flowers…. [10pm EST/FX]

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.

On the “What Is This Thing Called…” episode of Dirt, Don’s relationship with celebrity Sharlee Cates (Guest Star Ashley Johnson) deepens, Lucy and Holt begin to contemplate their relationship, and Willa and Farber sniff into the love lives of famous stars to find some dirt.

Dirt airs Sundays on FX at 10pm EST.

The “Ties That (Don’t) Bind” episode of Dirt could have also been called the “Big” episode because everything about it is supersize.

In a nutshell, Lucy embarks on a new romance, Willa and Farber pursue nasty news about a hit TV show, and Holt contends with the fallout from a relative’s loose lips.

Dirt airs Sundays on FX at 10pm EST.

Did the “David” in the post’s title make you do a double take? If so, apologies.

Judging from their initial banter, it had been quite a long while since Dirt star Courteney Cox last visited the Late Show with David Letterman when she stopped by at the end of February to push her FX series. Years, in fact. Cox offered an excellent excuse, though — the birth of her and husband David Arquette’s daughter Coco, who’ll turn four years old in June.

Cox spends substantial time talking about her little girl during the interview, as well as her and her husband’s experiences working together on Dirt, which he executive produces and has also directed in the past.

Surprisingly, other than one anecdote about the couple’s difficulty shooting a kissing scene featuring Cox and upcoming recurring guest star Danny Comden (his first episode is next Sunday, March 23rd), there’s not much in-depth discussion of the series.

Still, it’s a good interview, and you can watch it all after the jump.

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Last week on Dirt’s appropriately titled “Dirty Slutty Whores,” viewers encountered celebrity brat Milan Carlton (Elisabeth Harnois), who just couldn’t keep her spoiled little hands off of the sauce and then the steering wheel. This is the kind of tawdry stuff that makes Dirt so fun to watch.

The clip after the jump gives fans of the show a closer look at how the theme of celebrity ties into the series, courtesy of chit chat with stars Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller) and Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), as well as executive producer David Arquette, Courteney’s husband for those who really, truly, honestly didn’t already know.

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