An odd mix of stars, ‘Dirt’ and ‘Beer’

What could possibly be worth talking about: Cedric the Entertainer ‘n’ Lucy Liu, who costar in “Code Name: The Cleaner,” a comedy about a regular-seeming guy who gets mistaken for a secret agent. It is also possibly the oddest pairing in the history of odd pairings. Nicollette Sheridan costars as well, just to add to the unexpected mix! (Friday)

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What everybody will be talking about: Seacrest ‘n’ Clark. It may be hard to believe, but Dick Clark is planning to do a 3 1/2 -hour TV special on New Year’s Eve. And from Times Square, of all places! Ryan Seacrest will co-host, and Christina Aguilera will be there, along with some very cold drunk people who will scream a lot. Maybe a couple of them will even get married. (Tonight)

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What you can get meta about: “The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book.” This is the second book compiled by Frank Warren, founder of the award-winning PostSecret.com. For two years, people have been mailing Warren their secrets, written on postcards, and each Sunday, Warren posts them on his site. Some are funny, some are sad, all are anonymous. So if you anonymously make your secret public, is it still a secret?

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What you’ll definitely want to be talking about: Monica’s return. Courteney Cox hasn’t done much of note since “Friends” went off the air. She was the voice of Daisy the cow in “Barnyard: The Original Party Animals” and co-produced a horror film that her husband directed (David Arquette’s “The Tripper”). She also had a baby and co-starred in “Zoom,” but now, finally, Cox is going back to the small screen. This week, her show “Dirt,” about a vicious tabloid editor appropriately named Lucy Spiller, premieres on FX. Good luck, Court! (Tuesday)

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What nobody will be talking about around the dinner table: “Artie Lange’s Beer League” on DVD. A regular on Howard Stern’s Sirius Satellite Radio show, Lange has had a long, illustrious career that includes a stint on “MADtv” (he was a founding cast member), a few years as Norm MacDonald’s sidekick and a couple of fat-guy roles. In this film, he stars as an out-of-work loser who plays on a softball team. The film’s tag line? “No gut, no glory.”

-- Deborah Netburn