For "Nip/Tuck", one of cable TV's most controversial programs, the worst thing about having a brilliant first season was having a brilliant first season. "Nip/Tuck" creator, Ryan Murphy, set the bar awfully high for himself after the first season, with the lurid sexuality, enthralling gruesomeness of plastic surgery, and, most of all, the originality of the characters—plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy— and premises winning him a Golden Globe for Best Drama series in 2004. Since that success, however, Nip/Tuck has been generally declining in its quality of writing and the believability of some of its characters. FX, which broadcasts the show, has likely picked up on this trend because it has slated for the series to end in 2011.
Despite these setbacks and pressures, Murphy and his crew of writers have shown flashes of brilliance in subsequent seasons. Season two came closest to rivaling, or maybe even equaling, the award winning first season. The main reason for that was that a formidable antagonist to McNamara and Troy was introduced to stir things up: an unknown, dubbed "The Carver" for his M.O. of leaving a knife-‘carved' smile on the face of his victims. This conflict culminated in the cliffhanger season two finale, which is arguably the best episode the series has featured so far.
In the following seasons, however, brilliance has been harder and harder to find, to the point that simply one or two episodes in the entire season are worth watching. That isn't to say the acting hasn't been extraordinary. Dylan Walsh, who plays Dr. McNamara, has become one of TV's most underappreciated actors, and Julian McMahon is flawless in his portrayal of the narcissistic and shallow Dr. Troy. It's the acting, really, that has saved the series from becoming a total flop. The first episode of season four features an insecure Troy worrying that he is falling in love with his best friend, McNamara, and it is McMahon's spot-on neurotic behavior that makes the episode a classic.
Whether Murphy and his writers can regain their previous form remains to be seen by the millions eager to hear the shows tagline, "Tell me what you don't like about yourself." With the previous season ending rather broadly, with a reluctantly engaged Troy finding out his diagnosis of cancer was wrong, and the show moving from Miami to Los Angeles, there seems to be plenty of opportunity for season six. Rose McGowan is also billed to join the cast as McNamara's recurring love interest, Teddy, which will help revive the fading sexual flair of the show. But it isn't the acting that needs to prove itself to make season six work; it's the creative team that needs to show it still has what it takes to produce a Golden Globe-winning show. Because, with the direction the show has been taking in quality, it does not seem like it will be very long before the whole crew of "Nip/Tuck" is sitting in the patient's chair, answering the phrase: "Tell me what you don't like about yourself."
(Photo Courtesy of www.onlyfreetv.com)