"Tell me what you don't like about yourself": Previewing the "Nip/Tuck" series finale

Is there a show on TV more frustrating than FX's plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck"?
If there is, I'm not aware of it. This is a show that isn't merely content to go over the top. It bungee jumps from the top while giving you the finger, much like Alicia Silverstone in that Aerosmith video. This is a show that's given us incestuous mutilating rapists, a manipulative transsexual life coach, a robber who dressed as a mime and a death by build-a-bear machine.
And I'm just hitting the highlights.
The show airs its final episode 10 p.m. Wednesday and, like the previous episodes, the show's swan song is melodramatic, ridiculous and strangely touching.
In its final seasons, "Nip/Tuck" has -- as I've noted several times -- kind of gone off the rails, morphing into a parody of itself (did I mention the death by build-a-bear?). And yet, I remained loyal to it. Why? I'm not entirely sure.
Possibly it's due to the always convincing relationship between frenemy plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy (played by Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon). The push-pull of their volatile but loving relationship has always been an anchor keeping this crazy show just in the realm of believability. That's mainly due to the still-excellent work of Walsh and McMahon. After so many seasons together, the two actors have the kind of easy rapport that allows them to say volumes about their relationship with a look or sigh.
In the final episode, the dysfunctional duo face a cross roads in their personal and professional lives. I won't give too much away, except to say the resolution of their conflict is poignant and appropriate -- the perfect way to end this tempestuous series.
Of course, the show has its crazy moments, many of them involving Matt McNamara (John Hensley) and the aforementioned life coach Ava (Famke Janssen). There's also a storyline focusing on an elderly Japanese porn star.
But that's all par for the course. The final "Nip/Tuck" will likely satisfy fans -- even those like me with a love-hate relationship with the series.
The final episode of "Nip/Tuck" airs at 10 Wednesday on FX.

"Nip/Tuck" starts final season

When FX's glossy drama "Nip/Tuck" debuted in 2003, it cemented the cable network's identity as the new home for daring, envelope-pushing TV. Where "The Shield" was the network's take on a broadcast staple -- the cop show -- "Nip/Tuck" was the FX version of a medical soap opera. Its depiction of plastic surgery had all the graphic bloodiness of "ER" but with an element that series lacked -- style. The surgery scenes were edited almost like music videos, complete with songs that reflected the surgery taking place (for instance, in a first season episode, "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells played during a surgery to firm up loose skin on a patient who had just lost a significant amount of weight).
Not only did the show have style, it had sex. Not relatively chaste, George-Clooney-making-bedroom-eyes-at-Julianna-Marguiles sex. Sex sex. Sex in a variety of positions. Mean, nasty, shocking sex. In the first season alone, surgeon Christian Troy (Julian McMahon)seemingly got busy with half of Miami, while lusting after the other half.
While I didn't love "Nip/Tuck" the way I loved "The Shield" (or, later, FX's "Rescue Me"), I did admire how aggressive and stylish it was. I also admired the central performances by McMahon and Dylan Walsh, who played Christian's talented but uptight partner Sean McNamara. They had a nice rapport, and I actually believed they'd been friends and rivals for a long time. And, even though it wasn't as smart or as classy as "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck" was never boring.
Now, six years later, the show is coming to a close. Its seventh and final season starts Wednesday at 10 p.m. Over the years, the show has deteriorated quite a bit. Where the show's plot twists were once shocking, they've become silly or even off-putting. I mean, how many horrible things can happen to Sean's son Matt? He's already attempted a self-circumcision, had a threesome with lesbians, found out that Christian is his biological dad, slept with his mom's transsexual life coach, and dated a neo-Nazi. And that was just in the first three seasons! Did we really need last season's storyline, which started with Matt robbing convenience stores while dressed as a mime and ended with him getting sexually assaulted in prison? And I won't even talk about Sean's ex-wife Julia (Joely Richardson), who has been through so many dramatic character changes, she seems less of a character and more of a rack on which to hang a series of behavioral problems.
But, even though the show has veered into self-parody, I've kept watching. Mainly because my husband likes it, but also because it's just crazy enough to stay entertaining. Also, the acting remains strong and the surgery scenes still have an addictive mix of queasy realism and glitz.
So, as the show plods to a close, I'm trying to stay optimistic. The first two episodes of the new season are actually pretty good (the first is written by show creator Ryan Murphy, and has much of the melodramatic zing of the first season), so maybe this thing will come to a strong close. But, no matter what happens, I'll still kind of miss "Nip/Tuck" when it's gone.
Because, no matter what else it's become, it's never been boring.

FX announces mid-season schedule; also gives an end date to my suffering

Is there anything more terrifying than the unknown? I don't think so.
For months, I've been wondering when exactly FX would end its plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck," a show that I've continued watching, despite the fact that I no longer really enjoy it. Now I finally know -- March 3, 2010. Whew.
That's a relief. Now I know there's only a few more months that I have to endure the show's bizarre character changes and increasingly distasteful storylines (seriously -- was anyone begging for a Matt McNamara prison rape arc? Hasn't the boy been through enough?). The show's final season starts Jan. 6. Now, it's currently in its penultimate season, so that means there will be little break between its two seasons, giving me little respite before the sprint to the finish line. But I don't care -- as long as it ends soon.
In other FX mid-season news, the new animated comedy Archer debuts on Thursday, January 14; and the third season of the Emmy and Golden Globe award winning drama Damages starts on Monday, January 25. The new sitcom "Louie" with Louis C.K. is slated to start in spring and the Timothy Olyphant series "Justified" starts some time in March.
One last note: "Justified" was originally called "Lawman." As far as I know, no one has actually come out and said that the name was changed to avoid confusion with the A&E reality series "Steven Seagal: Lawman." If no one has mentioned it yet, let me be the first to start this rumor.

All style, no substance: Reviewing the new season of "Nip/Tuck"

When I first started watching the FX plastic surgery soap "Nip/Tuck," I didn't love it, but I did kind of admire it. It was so unapologetic in its tawdriness; so bold and crazy. I didn't totally warm to its tale of two morally bereft plastic surgeons, Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) and Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh), but it was slick, well-made and decently acted. Over time, the characters and the story did grow on me, and "Nip/Tuck" became my guilty pleasure of choice. Yes, the parallels between the medical stories and the personal ones were often clumsy, but the show -- at least for its first two seasons -- knew how to go cheerfully over the top (remember that Famke Janssen-transsexual storyline?), and keep its emotional resonance (the very real rift between Sean and Christian when Sean learns Christian is the real father of Sean's teen son). Plus the stylized plastic surgery scenes -- always set to music that reflected the case at hand -- were great fun to watch.
But then, in the third season, it went too far over the top, with its insane story of a serial mutilator called "The Carver." That story and its anti-climactic denouement made the show feel like a trick, like something that would dazzle and disgust us but provide no real payoff. The show never really recovered. Yes, there have been bright spots, including last season's arc about Christian's breast cancer. But, overall, it's just not that much fun anymore.
Wednesday at 10 p.m., the show begins the first half of its final season and, well, the first two episodes are more of the same. Rose McGowan bizarrely replaces Katee Sackoff as Sean's love interest, Dr. Rowe, and the plastic surgery business is suffering in this down economy, but, other than that, things are sort of status quo. After their relationship and marriage last year, Christian and anesthesiologist Liz Cruz (Roma Maffia) are back to hating each other (divorce will do that). Sean is back to engaging in his lifelong mid-life crisis. And Sean and Christian's son Matt (John Hensley) is back to making random inappropriate life choices (this season, he's chosen to combine armed robbery with the art of mime. It isn't as good as it sounds).
On the upside, Mario Lopez's abs are now featured cast members, so the thing isn't a total loss.
Still, even Lopez's chiseled mid-section isn't enough to bring the show back to its bright, trashy self. That's too bad, because I do enjoy the performances of many of the actors, particularly Walsh and McMahon who give their characters' bromance just the right mix of affection and tension. They snipe and backstab each other, but ultimately care for and take care of one another. It's a believable relationship and has always been the cornerstone of the show. The problem is, I'm just not that interested in the elements surrounding the relationship any more.
I do hope to stick out the show until the end of its run, but I'm not sure I'll take any pleasure in it. Not even the guilty sort.

FX announces premiere dates

Many media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times' TV blog and E!Online, are reporting that FX has announced premiere dates for several of its fall shows. According to these sites, the biker drama "Sons of Anarchy" returns Sept. 8 at 10 p.m. and the dark sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" comes back on Sept. 17 at 10 p.m. The plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" will return for its penultimate season at an unnamed date in October.
Of these, I'm most excited about the return of "Sunny," which might be my favorite comedy on TV. Yes, I love "30 Rock," but even that fine show can't touch the brilliance that is "The Night Man Cometh," (see above photo) or any incarnation of "Sunny's" "Day Man/Night Man" musical offerings. The show's fourth season wasn't as good as previous installments, but even subpar "Sunny" is better than 90 percent of current sitcoms.
As for the other two I, unfortunately, haven't seen "Sons of Anarchy" yet, but have all the first season episodes and hope to watch them before season two premieres.
And "Nip/Tuck," ironically, has aged poorly, but I'm still watching it -- mainly because my husband won't let me give it up. For this reason, I'm glad it's slowly, but surely, coming to an end. I'll just stick it out, making the most of the aspects of the show I still enjoy (like the fine acting by Julian McMahon, Dylan Walsh and Roma Maffia).
Meanwhile, "Sunny" is coming back! Greenman in the house!