As Season Three of Nip/Tuck progresses, it's becoming terribly, painfully obvious that the show is... well, it's not good. Not only has it jumped the shark, but it strapped its waterskis on some time ago. Possibly back in Season Two, when the Carver story was introduced. I'm pretty bummed about this, because I used to like Nip/Tuck. Such a heady mix of sex, scandal, soap, some substance and skillful special effects. All that, and Julian McMahon's bottom. Lovely.
But alas! The time has come. We must now resort to that which indicates a faltering show: the drinking game. In the spirit of this season's Nip/Tuck, I suggest this game is played not with booze, but with a plastic cup of warm, watered-down fruit-flavoured beverage. And so, I give you:
Sip/Suck: the Nip/Tuck Drinking Game
Take one sip when:
- Sean's eyes water while he looks earnest
- the business is threatened by money or ethical woes
- Liz gets the best line in a scene, but is never heard from again
- Matt refers to Sean not being his real father
- Matt resurfaces at home, only to sulk and leave again
- Julia looks pained
- Christian appears in his underwear
Take two sips when:
- Sean and Julia get back together, however briefly
- the Carver strikes again
- Annie, the forgotten second child of Sean and Julia, is seen and/or referred to
- Christian brings up his traumatic childhood
- Christian draws attention to his lack of a soul
- Matt is tempted by a transsexual
- someone has a threesome (note: need not be relevant to plot)
- Christian appears out of his underwear
Engage in copious vomiting when:
- Christian and Sean reaffirm the unbreakable bond of their friendship
- Julia and Sean admit they still love each other, but just can't make the marriage work
- the central character in a surgery story has an insight that also resonates with Sean and Christian, and helps them to have an insight of their own - handy!
Extra points - get out the funnel if:
- a female character appears who is not one of the following: a porn star, a shrewish wife, a nymphomaniac police officer, a model, a sex addict, a vapid socialite.
Article comments
1 - Em
I think you are incredibly wrong. Nip/Tuck is one of the most captivating, twisted, creative, entertaining shows on TV right now. You are clearly mistaken...
2 - Mark Runyon
Yeah I'd definitely like some of that crack you are smoking. Nip/Tuck is the best show on television hands down. No show on television even comes close to its edge and last week's episode was one of the best. Here's my official two cents worth:
http://www.pmmediareview.com/archives/2005/10/niptuck_granvil.aspx
3 - teletart
Well, folks, I'm standing by my mean 'n' nasty take on it all. Though Mark, I did really enjoy your review. You've absolutely captured the high camp that Nip/Tuck has become, or at least aspires to - I could feel the joy!
I'll admit to still enjoying the show - but for all the wrong reasons. In my books, there's a difference between having an 'edge' and what Nip/Tuck has become - wildly improbable, repetitive and slightly desperate. Sure, that can be fun to watch - but the best show on TV? Sorry, I don't see it. Perhaps more significantly, it's not even close to the show that it once was.
4 - joe
I used to hate this show when it first came on.I've since become a loyal follower.I bought the complete first season from best buy a few days ago on sale for $15.99 :)!
5 - peteybird
Right on, teletart. For fans of the first two seasons, these last couple episodes embarrass, and I'd hate for the show to go out like this.
The Carver theatrics were fresh (and interesting, even) when they existed on the periphery of what made the show great - namely, the patient-of-the-week format. If there's one conceit about Nip/Tuck that I never minded, it was the last item under "engage in copious vomiting." That's a matter of taste, I know, but I bought it. Blunt and didactic sermonizing be damned, it worked for me.
This business with Rhona Mitra (who really deserves better), with the virtuous, look-at-me-as-I-pull-myself-up-by-my-bootstraps, tickle-me-porn-tycoon Kimber, with the useless Carver BS, with the alternately incompetent/impotent Sean; it doesn't cut it. Nothing is INTERESTING anymore; it is, as you said, desperate.
I thought the first episode of the season (the 90-minute meditation on what it means to be fat and live on a couch) was really strong, and Matt's adventures with the gang of trannys was an interesting (if unresolved and, I suspect, forgotten) diversion, but the rest has been waste.
6 - teletart
Word, peteybird! Word, word, word. You said it all perfectly.
Big yes to your Carver insight. And yeah, I haven't really minded the blunt and didactic sermonizing myself - until this season. Now it's grating, because it feels like they're grasping at it as some way to give episodes artificial closure.
And I miss the patient-of-the-week structure too. I know shows have got to spread their wings... I just feel that Nip/Tuck has started to flap off into the wild blue yonder.
7 - deborah Lovett
I only watch it because Julian McMahon is the prettiest thing on TV at the moment. The plot thins to ludicrous nonsense. The nympho cop made me laugh out loud. What acting school did SHE GO TO? Too bad the first 2 seasons had me interested now it is tired and saggy. MMMM what does that say to you??
8 - Gabbo
I think you're quite right about the past seasons being much better than this one, but, hey, it's still the best show around... and I remember the second season also starting slow and becoming more and more addictive later... I think this show still deserves some credit, maybe we should have more patience
9 - teletart
Well, I've been patient... and my patience has worn thin. I appreciate your committment to the show, Gabbo, but there's just no way I would ever ever in a billion years call the current Nip/Tuck the best show on TV. Why? Hmmm I guess I find that it sucks.
Take, for example - oh, I don't know - let's say the recent semen-face-cream episode. Not only did it feel like a story from a mediocre sitcom, but it made Julia look ludicrous - even in the Nip/Tuck universe. Since when is a Joan Rivers endorsement going to sell face cream? Yeah yeah, I get that she's had a lotta surgery, that's hilarious. Oh, and Julia gets this revolutionary product onto the market in a matter of minutes - clever her! Face creams containing body fluids? Why worry about health regulations?! Only a professional would do that, and Julia is, as we all know, just trying to prove herself to Sean and Christian. See, women can run businesses!
At least Matt didn't feature in this episode - that was one saving grace. But Sean's having a crisis again, hereby making him the drippiest, least likeable schmuck on TV. And Christian is, well, worrying about clinic finances, and proposing to Kimber... again. I can feel the actors wincing as they spout some of the worst dialogue - and no wonder - they're trapped in a world without good story or depth.
I know I won't sway the hardcore fans - but I'll have to stand my ground, and continue to shout that Nip/Tuck is well past its best-by date. Sorry.
10 - Ridley'sMom
I adore Nip/Tuck and will go down with the ship even though it might be sinking. I don't think this season is bad...I thought season 2 was over the top and this one seems to try and reign it in. I appreciate that they're trying to give the characters more depth such as Christian's background of where he came from and his trying to gain a family. This storyline with Matt has got to go though...quit your freaking whining!! so what if you had sex with a transexual, your real dad isn't Sean, and your parents are getting divorced...we all have our problems!
11 - darwinspet
Unfortunately, teletart's observations seem pretty acurrate, plus I wasn't unimpressed with the drinking game analogy. Worrying about the direction of the current season would only seem to prove you are a nip/tuck fan. I have tended to view the show as cutting edge, and even if that is an exageration, it was always intense and in your face. Certainly over the years we have become accustomed to the dynamics of the show-Christian has sex,Sean falls in love with any woman who pays attention to him, Christian has sex, Julia considers sleeping with anyone who pays attention to her, Christian has sex, Matt is attracted to anyone who is sexually conflicted, Christian has sex . . . is as much a part of the frame work as the "tell me what you don't like about yourself?"
I'm thinking that the Carver subplot is probably responsible for the downfall of this season. After the first episode this season a friend said to me that a cliffhanger should be solved in the first half hour of the first episode (like it was a series rule I'd missed). Maybe he was right. While you can't ignore that the breaking down of the ties that bind the three primary character (aka, story arc bootcamp)has pushed way past the threshold of necessity--I'm thinking that maybe the ambiguity that any reoccuring charater could be the Carver and spending a season trying to show a dazzeling hand of three card Monty by casting suspicion and confusion about each cast member in turn--may just be too slight of hand, too much smoke and mirrors to really be intense. I can only imagine how much more intriguing the series might have developed this season if the Carver plot had been a bridge between the 2 seasons,say the final 5 episodes of season 2 and the first 5 of season 3, and used in some way to begin the eventual redemption of characters and rebuilding of relationships.
I don't want to believe that this is the death knoll for nip/tuck, but it does seem like a world gone mad when Erica is the voice of reason and taking a whack at Matt should become the National Pastime. I'm almost to the point of holding out hope for a Dallasesque "it was all a dream" resolution. Sean carving and sewing back together a new family for himself like some post modern Dr. Frankenstein has just about put me over the top. It makes the Kimber doll fantasy sequence seem like a pleasant alternative.
Until now I have taken my hat off to FX. I never felt that The Sopranos or Six Feet Under followed through on the promise of their first seasons. But with Nip/Tuck and the Shield, the hits just kept on coming. I don't need another montage of the family breaking bread together, but for the love of . . . . let the doctor's heal themselves already.
12 - John Noble
This by far, the worst show i've ever seen in my entire life. This show jumped the shark on the first episode. All of you can waste the rest of your lives watching this garbage, clinging to the pathetic belief that this is a good show.
13 - veronika
I was a huge fan the first couple seasons and I did my best to hang in there through this season. But I've gotta say, it's been really hard. It seems like the writers are floundering, so desperate to be cutting-edge that they're creating these outrageous storylines that go nowhere. It's sad. Last night was the first time since the show's been on that I turned it mid-show to watch something (anything!) else. Julian McMahon is still Julian McHottie to me, though.
14 - ddk
yes, the first two seasons were definitely better than the third so far, but i still love the show. There have been a couple episodes that are just trying too hard but i still watch them. Matt needs to stop acting like a pussy and grow up and christian needs to forget about kimber and be his player self again. With out christian the show would not be as good thats for sure...But i have to say i am a nip/tuck lover!!
15 - Andy
I have to agree with some comments on here that the show has taken a little bit of a spin downwards. I'd say it's coming close to jumping the shark with the airplane crash episode but after watching it I don't think it did. I definitely am not as excited when watching it as I was the first two seasons but it's still a good show.
I mean come on -- if it didn't have all these people posting online about the carver - how can it be that bad.
My opinion -- I really don't care about Julia's career storyline -- I focused on this show based on the Christian/Sean aspect more and miss that this season -- hopefully it is getting back to that with Quentin out of the picture. And come on I love Kimber/Christian but give me back the playboy Christian (at least so I can live vicariously through him)
I'm still hooked for now and look forward future shows!
16 - Scoot
I agree that the show isn't where it started off.
There value/depth of each episode used to be extremely variable. Because the elements were (of course) more variable. Now there tends to be too much focus on season based storylines instead of episode based.
Seems like they're building the characters and revealing more and more about each to the viewers but it's all based off of this "carver" storyline. Heaven forbid I miss an episode... Otherwise I miss out on what I've been waiting ALL SEASON for... What is this... A frigging comic book?? I have to have read every comic book edition before hand to figure out what's going on in this edition??
I say they should switch the focus. A little less dramatic suspense and a little bit more excitement per episode.
17 - Renee
this is in response to John Noble saying how horrible the show was... WHY ARE YOU HERE? THIS THREAD IS ABOUT NIP/TUCK IF YOU HATE THE SHOW WHY ARE YOU EVEN WASTING YOUR TIME TO PUT IT DOWN?
18 - Jannie
My colleagues talk about this series at the water cooler like none other. It is a great series - but it has fallen a few notches - and I think the Drinking Game Sip Suck might be the ticket.
I rarely am as intrigued with a television series, as I am with Nip Tuck, but even I, without benefit of being a creative writer, could have easily surpassed Season Three. What possessed the writers, who exceeded everyone’s expectations in Season Two, to wimp out so tragically in this last season? I reluctantly declare that they may have lost their edge.
First of all, we lost much of the great and surreal sex in this season, which was a flagship of season two. The music and fantasy edge fell to an almost mundane level, no better than General Hospital. In this season, all relationships were disintegrated, and those that were salvaged, were done so too late and stitched together with inadequate fiber " too quick, too loose too easy. Too many truly interesting characters were left dangling in the throes of drama, and then too quickly resolved. Here is a short list of just some of undeveloped themes or carryovers from the previous season that were left hanging without form or cheated a conclusion (you guys were like the hope of great sex without foreplay " you should slap yourselves to next Sunday!):
• Former Dr. Bobolit attacks Christian, slices his own face and disappears without repercussions or resolution (here is a character who would truly have motivation as the “Carver”)
• Ava boards a plane and never reappears " what an intriguing character to have just thrown away? She would have been instrumental in Season Three
• Matt just does not have enough motivation to express the amount of rage and irrational behavior " and then so neatly return to normalcy? It’s a “cheat” and his transition has no framework. Matt promotes a vigilante killing and then returns home for the warmth of family " another dead body without resolve (the viewers won’t remember next season), or maybe it never happened
• Julia “murders” her mother, or not " and just returns back to her casual lifestyles with no repercussions, into motherhood? Mother is on the couch when she returns or not?
• The “character and personality swap” between Christian and Sean is a terrific tool but it works better when there is a rhythm of transition as in Season Two
• Kimber’s abduction was climatic " but it fell short when the viewers realize that the Carver did not have motive or opportunity to spend that much time devoted to torturing his victim " the MO fell apart. Work with Kimber’s transition " and don’t let it happen too easily " and don’t write her off yet
• Christian’s DNA at the crime scene was never explained " and therefore he would never be absolved so easily from that crime, just because the Carver struck again. The police (who must have a work force beyond Kit) would assume he murdered and tried to make it look like the Carver. It was a bad move for the writers because it could not so easily be retracted
• This season the characters engaged in experiences and drama that did not develop their character or move them deeper in the engaging human experiment that is Nip Tuck
• The viewers are supposed to engage in the idea that the Carver became a doctor to heal his dramatically disfigured sister. The sister, Kit, dedicates her life to law enforcement, while her brother serially murders and disfigures. And what amazing surgery transformed her hideous face to the beauty she became? She travels with her brother as a partner in crime " why? The two have distinctly different accents and even waste their time dating and engaging in group sex, in which none of the parties notice that one of the key players is missing genitalia (oh, we buy that one). The Carver is an aspiring plastic surgeon who has the time to butcher men and women on slow evenings. He and his sister target McNamara and Troy and his sister even gets “lead detective” on the case (amazing coincidence). The criminal pair lack motivation, opportunity, and manage to operate in and around a system without impediment " very sloppy and unrealistic. They sure spent a great deal of time doing and undoing their own crimes, even carving their own faces. It’s odd that with all the surgeries available Quinton never opted for working genitalia, which is done today. Look at all the sex and opportunity for sex " and no one noticed? Amazing?
Nip Tuck needed to mend its fences better this season, without conventional endings. It’s not “everybody lives happily ever after” but rather some survive and begin understanding who they really are and more importantly discover both the good, bad, and ugly of themselves and those they love. Love does not have to be conventional " it just is what it is. The viewers want the main characters to prevail through cunning, insight, and the grand epiphany of discovery and self-actualization. The viewers want the “bumps” and triumphs, the losses and despair " but they don’t want to have it served on a platter without justification. Be sensational, but to cause. Just flashing random spice leaves the dish a bit unsavory!
Nip Tuck has earned its way into a whole new level of television " and it must find a way to correct it’s failures of this season if it is to compel its following. I would suggest developing the characters more deeply and internally, resolve cliffhangers, develop intricate motivation, move the emotions off of the scale, and develop expressions and motivations for love in unprecedented ways. Resolve the flaws of this season into next year’s premier. Every plot, character and situation can be twisted into an astounding beginning and there are but a few obstacles to that end. Good luck to the writers, I hope they meet our expectations or at least come close to some of the viewers’ visions!
And always, never underestimate the intelligence of the audience, relying on “it’s only television”. If they begin to believe that " they’ll be history much sooner than later.
19 - pam goodwin
if show was on prime time cult following would increas 50x. i like everybody on the show but julie, shes so pious now as to her previous role bring back julie. matt's strange, but strange is good. no more orange lip stick PLEASE.i had no qualms as who the carver was, but the way it was presented: peek-a-boo here i am. but have to say the twist was freaky. these writers must live wild lives or at the least have friends who do. know one could come up with this stuff. sexist show: christian, kimber, kit & quinton having dinner in the hugh booth!!! saddest: kimber leaving christian at the alter and (after she'd been cut, telling him they could not be together)everyone knows their perfect for each other. i think you ought to search for male and female to enter a contest and receive every plastic surgery that's been performed,by true surgeons, on the show & people could see REAL results. omitting removing the leg on the bd person. of course i would be your choice for the female, i could tell you what i don't like about my self! keep it up & remember if it's not broken DON'T fix it. pam goodwin, cleveland tn
20 - Mary
hello,my name is mariana and i'm from argentina, buenos aires.. my english is not perfect, but i can understand what you said and, I think you are incredibly wrong. you are mistaken ...I never have seen another show on tv like this.
nip tuck is a show when you can find a lot of things, like action, mistery, creative, captivate
sean and christian are the best !!!!!!!!
see you soon
happy new year ....
21 - alex
The show is asome but itis going to suck like shit prolbey beacuse there is no caver anymore...
22 - Desiree
so yeah, here you guys are talking about how the second and third season went down the tubes, when those were the best seasons the show had. if you thought THAT was bad, what are you saying now??? haha. even I stopped watching.
23 - tiffany l f
i think you people at the top who left rude comments are wasting ur time. Dont add a comment that is negitive. Hello... YOU CHOSE TO WATCH THE SHOW!!! Get over your self's. Its people like you that don't deserve an opinion. Come on here and leave a rude comment like that?? You're making ur self look stupid. I love the show and i think you have to be extreamly talented to come up with such a thrilling show! Its art and amazing art at that! This is a show that will never get old!! This is a show that keeps you watching! And its one of the only shows i know of that ties into all the previous episodes, yet still gives it an awesome twist! I cant wait for the next season!! I absoloutly love it! You people that have crap to say about it shouldnt be wasting ur time writting about it... I mean seriously look at how much time you spent writting so much about it! Tiff- from littleton co.