Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck is what the doctor ordered to put a little wicked dramedy in a silly sitcom-ed out TV season. [20 July 2003, p.3]

The new series Nip/Tuck is gross, disgusting and vile. And I like it. A lot...If you can get past the ick factor, Nip/Tuck is really a character drama that recalls "Six Feet Under" or "The Shield" -- powerful stuff that's not just gross, it's engrossing. [21 July 2003, p.C08]

Nip/Tuck is a shrewdly written drama without intellectual pretensions. It is a dark satire that manages to be as engrossing as a soap opera.

The overly gruesome operating room moments are best glimpsed through shielded eyes. The rest of the drama draws viewers in with rich characters, a breathless pace, a refusal to pigeonhole good guys versus bad guys, thoughtful observations about family life and midlife relationships, and intriguing casting. [22 July 2003, p.F-01]

The core of the show is its characters, who are vividly drawn and well cast, and its tangle of provocative story lines. [22 July 2003, p.E8]

I like the way this series cuts to the moral bone and ties so much of the evil men and women do to our culture's excessive materialism, commercialism and obsession with appearances. [22 July 2003, p.1E]

For the second straight time, the cable channel has rejuvenated a stale, weary TV format, taking a genre that appeared to be staggering under the debilitating effects of old age and overuse and giving it new life. [20 July 2003, p.TV-6]

There's no question Tuck is at times excessive or that it risks becoming exhausting. But in a season packed with reality and retreads, at least Murphy and FX are shooting for something novel and doing so in a way that is less pretentious and more dramatically viable than many of their more high-profile cable competitors.

Disturbing and morbid in presentation and humor, Nip/Tuck isn't for the squeamish, and it isn't pretty. But what we saw was alluring and smart enough to, perhaps, pick up the pace on Tuesday nights. [22 July 2003, p.E6]

Are they lovable? No. Are they watchable? Compulsively so.

Nip/Tuck confirms that FX, after HBO, is presenting the most-adventurous series in cable these days. The surgery to deliver this energetic series has been, all in all, a rousing success.

Nip/Tuck is the right show at the right time, a pointed, funny attack on the body biz and another winner from the cable channel that brought us "The Shield" and "Lucky." [21 July 2003, p.25]

Beyond the "yikes" factor, Nip/Tuck tells compelling stories about its troubled characters. [22 July 2003, p.E1]

Suburban rage may not be pretty, but in Nip/Tuck, it's always funny. [22 July 2003, p.3E]

The show's a keeper - daring, imaginative and provocative - but it must be careful not to overheat in the long haul and burn out its audience. [22 July 2003, p.F1]

One hopes viewers don't get too caught up in Nip/Tuck's sometimes over-the-top graphic images and miss the beauty of the series underneath. [22 July 2003, p.1E]

Nip/Tuck isn't perfect, but with its flawed, fumbling and very human cast of characters, it's a cut above the usual TV drama. [22 July 2003, p.5E]

Nip/Tuck -- a provocative but at times off-putting new show -- doesn't do itself a favor by pressing considerably further, tacking on the more obvious trappings of violence, torture and a marriage so troubled it could qualify for "Jerry Springer."

Nip/Tuck is neither pretty nor perfect, but it is a provocative, painfully funny drama--warts and all.

An uneven series that, while sometimes hard to watch, is also hard to resist. It doesn't make you feel good for watching it, though. Joely Richardson is solid as a long-suffering wife, but creator Ryan Murphy tries way too hard to juice up his story. [22 July 2003, p.35]

Murphy's concept in its basics is already beautiful. But he pushes the show to be a breathtaking knockout. Like some plastic surgery patients, Nip/Tuck initially gets such a pleasing result that it doesn't seem to know when to stop.

A mixed-bag hour that, in the parlance of the cosmetic-surgery world, could use a little work. [22 July 2003, p.E1]

The pilot is so packed with nauseating moments meant for shock value that only the most desperate of viewers will get to the second episode in search of something, well, a little less wince-inducing.

Nip/Tuck does not grab you like "The Shield," though, and does not ingratiate you to its quirky tone, like the network's comedy "Lucky." It's more artifice than art, and in everything from the performances to the dramatic contrivances, you can see the strain.

Lack of likable characters may be show’s downfall, though if future hourlongs focus on ethical and personal dilemmas rather than pile them on as occurs in the pilot, Nip/Tuck has some promise.

The show digs into the issues too quickly, and with too much intensity, and the drama suffers. [22 July 2003, p.E1]

Writer-director Murphy seems willing to do anything to startle viewers and introduce outrageous elements into the script, but as he pushes the envelope up, down, backwards and sideways, the characters become less and less believable. It becomes shock for shock's sake and, in addition, extremely overwrought, with lots of screamed accusations and lamentations.

I'm afraid the show, like beauty itself, is only skin deep. [22 July 2003, p.40]

What's good here is the acting, and some of the story lines (the model who thinks she's not perfect enough, for example). But they are overshadowed by over-the-top gory surgeries and preposterous situations...It's like "Miami Vice" - with a huge number of close-ups and a lot of ceiling fan action - but it's a lot bloodier. But hey - next time I want to see a butt reduction or an exploding, fat-spewing lipo-scution tube, I know just where to turn.

Somewhere between Murphy's ambitiousness and FX's desire to be basic cable's HBO, the cleverness got suctioned out of this show, and the result is a cross between 'General Hospital' and 'Extreme Makeover.'