“Friends” star Courteney Cox returns to weekly television in “Dirt” (9 p.m., FX), an ambitious and often uneven series that is shocking, riveting and a little silly all at the same time.

Cox plays Lucy Spiller, the brains behind two gossip magazines, “Now,” a glossy “People”-like weekly, and “Dirt,” a more down-market, down-and-dirty sheet that appears to have grown at the expense of its bigger, more respectable sister.

In all of the publicity shots for “Dirt,” Cox’s character stands on a hill above nighttime Los Angeles, with her red dress flowing endlessly, eclipsing the foreground like a dramatic curtain, or a silken river of blood. Take your pick.

Lucy always appears in dark eye shadow to accentuate the slate-gray beauty of her eyes. Or is it their lifelessness?

It says something about a show that its moral center is provided by a madman. Ian Hart plays Don Konkey, ace photographer and old friend of Lucy’s from their college-newspaper days. A self-described “high-functioning” schizophrenic, Don can get any shot of any celebrity living or dead. All the time he battles hallucinations and inner demons right out of a David Lynch movie. A lonely man in a grim bachelor pad, he’s very attached to his cat, particularly since it has cancer. Is it madness or wisdom that tells him the tabby is suffering for his sins and for Lucy’s?

“Dirt” wastes no time showcasing the mechanics of gossip and access. Like “L.A. Confidential,” it demonstrates how blackmail is used to turn targets into sources and how sources become prey in Lucy’s spiderweb.

Lucy’s scarlet garb makes all the more sense as the drama unfolds. Call her a vampire, ghoul or Satan herself: She is a collector of souls. The show’s dark color palette only accentuates the presentation of Hollywood as a hellish zombie town.

Like most series on FX, “Dirt” is not for the kids, nor for the tame. Sex of all kinds, suicide, drug use and treachery are featured in nearly every frame. The scenes of Don’s descent into mental illness are the show’s most daring and over-the-top.

It remains to be seen how fans of “In Touch” and other brainless gossip rags will feel about a show so gloomy. “Dirt” will certainly receive condemnation from the usual suspects. On the other hand, Cox appears to have one-upped the moral crusaders out to clean up entertainment. The movie stars and celebrity tormentors in “Dirt” aren’t just going to hell. They’re already there.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The Wake Forest Demon Deacons take on the Louisville Cardinals in the Orange Bowl (6:30 p.m., Fox).

¢ Scheduled on “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC): the death of a housewife.

¢ The death of an immigrant woman may have been an “honor” killing on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (8 p.m., NBC).

¢ Murder on embassy row on “Numb3rs” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ A patient (Brian Dennehy) makes a deathbed confession to Benson on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ “A Fish Story” on “Independent Lens” (9 p.m., PBS) explores a struggle between environmentalists and fishermen defending their jobs and a centuries-old culture.