2nd helping of "Riches," "Dirt" for FX

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Cable channel FX has renewed freshmen drama series "The Riches" and "Dirt" for 2008.

"Dirt" stars Courteney Cox as a hardboiled tabloid editor. editor-in-chief of a tabloid. "Riches" stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as the heads of a family of con artists.

While they haven't fared as well as FX's older series in their first-run airings, the weekly cumulative ratings among adults 18-49 for "Dirt" (3.7 million) and "Riches" (3.9 million) are comparable to those of "Rescue Me" and "The Shield."

"If a show has 3.8 million (young) adult viewers on a weekly basis, that makes it a hit on cable," FX president and GM John Landgraf said.

Additionally, FX's much-anticipated new legal drama "Damages," starring Glenn Close, is set to premiere July 24 and will run at 10 p.m. Tuesdays. The firefighter drama "Rescue Me" will return for a fourth season June 13, moving to 10 p.m. Wednesdays.

Meanwhile, the third-season premiere of the comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has been pushed from June to September to allow the show, which features returning co-star Danny DeVito, to wrap production on its 13-episode order and do location shoots in Philadelphia.

In addition to "Dirt," "Riches," "Damages" and "Rescue Me," FX's original drama lineup includes veterans "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck" for a total of six series, more than any network in the history of cable television, Landgraf said. But "Shield's" upcoming seventh season will be its last, and "Nip/Tuck" also is nearing its end.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter