Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck
The Nip/Tuck title card.
Format	Medical drama
Created by	Ryan Murphy
Starring	Dylan Walsh Julian McMahon John Hensley Roma Maffia Kelly Carlson Joely Richardson
Opening theme	A Perfect Lie by The Engine Room
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	73 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s)	Hollywood, California[1]
Running time	42-65 minutes per episode (season premieres are longer)
Broadcast
Original channel	FX Networks
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Original run	July 22, 2003 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Nip/Tuck is an American television medical drama series created by Ryan Murphy for FX Networks. The show follows the lives of two plastic surgeons, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon). The show was set in Miami, Florida in Seasons 1 through to 4 but was filmed in Los Angeles. A plot-related development led to the show moving location to Los Angeles, California which brought the show in line with its place of production from Season 5 onwards.

In its debut season, Nip/Tuck was the highest-rated new series on American basic cable, and the highest rated basic cable series of all time for the 18-49 and 25-54 age demographics. The fourth season of the series premiered on September 5, 2006 on FX Networks.^[2] The latest season to be released on DVD in North America was the fourth on September 4, 2007, however, part of the fifth season was released in Germany on October 10th, 2008.^[3] The fifth season premiered on October 30, 2007, and was to consist of 22 episodes,^[4] making it the longest season of the show yet, with Joely Richardson returning for 15 of those episodes.^[5] The remaining eight episodes of the 22-episode pick-up will air in January 2009. The show inspired the creation of the plastic surgery reality show Dr. 90210.^[6]

Eight new episodes (the remaining episodes from season five) will premiere January 6, 2009. A final 19 episodes were picked up by FX, and will be split into two halves airing in both January 2010 and January 2011 marking the end of the series with an even 100 episodes. Ryan Murphy will remain as a showrunner throughout the final episodes. Also joining for 4 episodes is actress Rose McGowan who will play the part of Dr. Thoedora 'Teddy' Lowe. This will reunite her with former Charmed co star Julian McMahon.^[7]

Characters and cast

Main article: List of Nip/Tuck characters

See also: List of Nip/Tuck episodes

See also: List of Nip/Tuck cast members

Primary Characters

Secondary Characters

Controversy

Main article: Issues addressed in Nip/Tuck

The Parents Television Council has criticized the show.^[8] The show is shown at a late hour with multiple 'Viewer Discretion Advised' warnings between every commercial break. A particular scene involving a foursome pushed the PTC into starting a campaign to get the show taken off the air by writing to the sponsors of the show and threatening to boycott their products.^[9][10] Another scene the PTC criticized depicted a funeral home worker removing and assembling body parts from dead women, including his sister's head, then sewing them together to make "the ideal woman." The PTC President described it in a decency hearing as "incestuous necrophilia."^[11]

Awards

• Emmy Awards (2008):
  • Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Sharon Gless)
  • Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Oliver Platt)

• Emmy Awards (2007):
  • Nominated - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special

• Emmy Awards (2006):
  • Nominated - Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series
  • Nominated - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special
  • Nominated - Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic).

• Golden Globe Awards (2005):
  • Won - Best Television Series - Drama.
  • Nominated - Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama (Julian McMahon)
  • Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama (Joely Richardson).

• Emmy Awards (2005):
  • Nominated - Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series
  • Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Jill Clayburgh)
  • Nominated - Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special
  • Nominated - Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic).

• Golden Globe Awards (2004):
  • Nominated - Best Television Series - Drama
  • Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama (Joely Richardson).

• Emmy Awards (2004):
  • Won - Outstanding Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Prosthetic).
  • Nominated - Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
  • Nominated - Outstanding Main Title Design
  • Nominated - Outstanding Main Title Theme Music
  • Nominated - Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic).

Real-life basis for surgeries

Series creator Ryan Murphy has stated that the medical cases featured on the show are "100 percent based on fact".^[12]

• In Episode 1.13 ("Escobar Gallardo"), the featured surgery involved a drug lord who had his appearance heavily changed. In July 1997, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers at the time, died while having plastic surgery to drastically alter his face (and while having 3 1/2 gallons of fat sucked from his body).^[13]
• In Episode 2.4, ("Mrs. Grubman"), the featured surgery involves a patient addicted to plastic surgery. Plastic surgery addiction is a real phenomenon, and is believed to stem from a psychological condition called Body dysmorphic disorder in many cases.
• In Episode 2.9 ("Rose and Raven Rosenberg"), the featured surgery concerned the separation of two adult conjoined twins (played by Lori and Reba Schappell). While there have been many cases of conjoined twin separation, the surgery featured in this episode shares some details with the 2000 separation of Gracie and Rosie Attard, which resulted in the death of Rosie.^[14]
• In Episode 2.10 ("Kimber Henry"), a surgery in the show involved a male writer/humorist getting breast implants as resource material for a new book. This shares some similarities with the story of Canadian Brian Zembic, who in the year 2000 got breast implants to win a $100,000 USD (£50,000) bet. Unlike the patient on Nip/Tuck, Zembic decided to keep his breasts, and later displayed them to the world on an episode of The Man Show.^[15]
• In Episode 3.1 ("Momma Boone"), the featured surgery appears to have been based on a 480-pound Florida resident Gayle Laverne Grinds, who died after emergency workers tried to separate her from the couch she had lived on for 6 years.^[16]
• In Episode 3.13 ("Joy Kringle"), the featured surgery involves a woman who unknowingly has carried a petrified fetus inside of her for 17 years. Lithopedions (or "stone babies") are a real, albeit rare phenomenon that result when a fetus dies during an ectopic pregnancy. Two recent cases reported in the news include a 49-year-old fetus found in a 76-year-old woman (2000), and a 39-year-old fetus in a 67-year-old (1999).^[17]

U.S. television ratings

Viewer numbers (based on average total viewers per episode) of Nip/Tuck on FX.

Nip/Tuck became an instant basic cable hit from its 2003 series premiere.

For its third season, FX aired Nip/Tuck solely in the fall of 2005, instead of during the summer season like the two years prior. John Landgraf, president of FX, stated that such a move was a "huge risk" since it stacked up "against the full barrage of fall network competition."^[20] Despite some critical backlash on its third season, like the grade of D+ from Entertainment Weekly,^[26] the story arc involving The Carver attracted an audience to the series larger than any season before, culminating in a December 20, 2005 two-hour season finale, entitled Cherry Peck / Quentin Costa, which became the most-watched scripted program in the history of the FX network.

Including Cherry Peck / Quentin Costa, three episodes of Nip/Tuck rank as the three most-watched scripted programs ever on FX. The second season finale, entitled Joan Rivers, which aired on October 5, 2004, drew 5.2 million viewers. It was then eclipsed on September 20, 2005 when the third season premiere, entitled Momma Boone, drew roughly 5.3 million viewers.^[27] Exactly three months later on December 20, 2005, the aforementioned third season finale, entitled Cherry Peck / Quentin Costa, drew 5.7 million viewers. Of those 5.7 million viewers, 3.9 million viewers were in the 18-49 age group demographic, "making the finale the No. 1 episode among the key advertising demographic of any cable series in 2005. It's also the largest demographic number for any single telecast in the network's history,"^[20] according to Zap2It.

According to the September 8, 2006 Mediaweek column The Programming Insider, "the fourth season-premiere on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, from 10-11:10 pm averaged a stellar 4.8 million total viewers and 3.4 million adults 18-49, building over its season three average by 25 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Nip/Tuck's performance among adults 18-49 ranks as basic cable’s top-rated season-premiere in the demo for 2006, as of September 8, 2006."^[21]

Soundtrack

For complete listing and details, see Nip / Tuck: Original TV Soundtrack.

References

External links

• Mundofox: Nip/Tuck Official website Lat
• FX Network: Nip/Tuck Official website
• niptuckfans: Nip/Tuck fans website
• MySpace: Official Nip/Tuck MySpace Page
• Nip/Tuck at the Internet Movie Database
• Warner Video: Nip/Tuck Official website
• Nip/Tuck French Website: Nip/Tuck France
• TVGuide: TVGuide's Nip/Tuck Page
• TV.com: Nip/Tuck TV Show
• CTV.ca Nip/Tuck CTV.ca website
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