Nip/Tuck

Some early presents for "Nip/Tuck" fans

Next Tuesday "Nip/Tuck," one of those shows that I can't quit even though it has given me plenty of reasons over the years, returns for a new season (at 10 p.m. on FX).

Sean and Christian's latest adventures come with a fresh setting – they've moved the practice from Miami to L.A., Ground Zero for plastic surgery hijinks.

But the only familiar territory in season five is their area of professional expertise. The guys have to re-establish themselves in a highly competitive and closed environment, a concept more crippling to sex-hound Christian's style than to Sean's.

( Snip, snip -- spoilers! )

Nip/Tuck' gets a Hollywood face-lift

The game has changed this season for FX's "Nip/Tuck."

When viewers last saw Dr. Christian Troy and Dr. Sean McNamara, they had left their lucrative, but troubled, Miami plastic surgery practice for the bodywork capital of the world: Hollywood.

That's a good thing for the stories and the cast, says Dylan Walsh, who plays McNamara.

"It's been great, to be honest," says Walsh. "With a TV series, the stories are so much driven by the sets that you have, and you find yourself on the same set, in the same kitchen, for the 112th time having almost the same argument with your wife. The theme this year is we have a fresh start."

( Snip, snip, no real spoilers )

Nip/Tuck Goes Hollywood (Literally)

They're back. Miami's busiest plastic surgeons are back in business, but they've moved operations to Los Angeles, where they hope they'll duplicate some of their successes. The Nip/Tuck duo have a rough start, but soon, Sean and Christian have everything they think they want.

TV Guide hung out on the red carpet at Saturday's Nip/Tuck season premiere screening at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. While newly ultrathin star Joely Richardson was a no-show, and her former beau, John Hensley (who plays her son Matt on the FX series), slipped by reporters, some cast and crew were willing to share stories.

( Spoilers! -- mainly about Kimber. )

Cutting Miami Ties
'Nip/Tuck' Relocates To Surgery-Crazed Beverly Hills

McNamara/Troy, the fictional TV plastic-surgery firm that specializes in implants, has itself become a transplant.

For the fifth season of "Nip/Tuck," which starts Tuesday on FX, the setting has changed from Miami to Beverly Hills.

Doctors Sean McNamara and Christian Troy, both newly single and middle-aged, are trying to break into a town where not only does the local economy seem built on silicone, but everybody seems to have had the work done already.

( Snip, snip (minor plotline spoilers). )

'Nip/Tuck' Sweeps into Fifth Season
FX debuts rebuilt show just before November sweeps

Fittingly for a show that's now set in Tinseltown, "Nip/Tuck" will unveil its new season at the dawn of November sweeps.

FX's twisted plastic-surgery drama will begin its fifth season on Tuesday, Oct. 30, two days before the opening of November sweeps. The new season will consist of 14 episodes, which, depending on whether FX takes a break for Christmas and New Year's, could stretch into the February sweeps period.

The show has switched locales for the new season, which follows Drs. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) as they try to import their Miami cosmetic-surgery practice to Los Angeles, where they find the market for their services much more crowded. Creator Ryan Murphy has said that several of the show's other regulars, including Joely Richardson, Roma Maffia, John Hensley and Kelly Carlson, will also eventually make their way west.

( Minor plotline spoilers. )


This contradicts other reports of an October 23 start date and a 22 episode season, alas.