Nip/Tuck

This extreme drama often astonishes with its scathing take on American vanity...Nip/Tuck is an intense, adult show with complex characters and jaw-dropping twists.

If you have a strong enough stomach to get through the yuck-and-yikes surgical procedures, the dramatic rewards are great. If you prefer shows with an edge and an attitude, make your appointment with Miami partners Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon)...And if you like your television served up with wit, intelligence and a bit of daring, you won't have much to say if someone asks, "Tell me what you don't like about Nip/Tuck. "[22 June 2004, p.E1]

One of TV's premiere dramas --- a rarity whose darkest moments have a way of lingering in the mind. Such depth and humanity might be unexpected from a show that clearly revels in every four-letter word and exposed cheek, yet as the series so often demonstrates, appearances can be deceiving. [22 June 2004, p.10]

Nip/Tuck is unabashed in its portrayal of the flawed ways people conduct the private sides of their lives and how the professional bleeds over in unexpected ways. [21 June 2004, p.43]

The FX series begins its second year with assurance, inventiveness and more than a little boldness.

This year, the ethical standards remain low and the ick factor high. [20 June 2004, p.8]

Nip/Tuck is all about appearances, but it also has something to say. [21 June 2004, p.C01]

Yes, this highly addictive -- and often painfully funny -- soap can trample all over your comfort zone, but that can be a good thing if you give it some slack. It is rough and visceral and intense and defiantly alive -- commendable qualities, considering how so many banal (and derivative) TV dramas these days carry the mind-numbing effect of pre-op anesthesia. [22 June 2004, p.D01]

The show is a hoot-and-a-half...I just thought Nip/Tuck was so over-the-top that it was crazy. It is crazy, but it's also funny and can even be deep about the shallow world of cosmetic surgery.

It’s clear, then, that the allure and the annoyance of the series rest in the same area. FX gets “Nip/Tuck” to stand out in a crowded field by being provocative both under the knife and under the sheets. Sex and surgery are the draw, but the acting, the emotional battlegrounds and even the issues raised are ultimately the reasons the series excels.

For all its "look what we can get away with" grandstanding and scalpel-sharp wit, Nip/Tuck succeeds best when it deftly pierces the heart.

'Nip/Tuck' is, in short, a great soap opera disguised as very good prime-time trash.

Had enough? Or want more? Nip/Tuck still can be gripping, gratifying drama when it's not trying so hard to be either salacious or capital Q quirky. But it's not off to the great start of last summer despite the presence of esteemed thespian Vanessa Redgrave in the second season's initial three episodes. [20 June 2004, p.3]

Nip/Tuck could be equally effective as a drama without being anywhere near as graphic as it is. [22 June 2004]

Still a claustrophobic show, and some of the uncomfortable stories from last year -- especially teenager Matt (John Hensley) and his involvement in a hit and run -- return, but a lot of the themes are at least a little more palatable and thought-provoking. [22 June 2004, p.B-1]

Skin deep? A tad predictable? Certainly. But Nip/Tuck is nonetheless a TV addiction. We watch, mesmerized by the series' cool surface appeal and the nasty ooze pulsating beneath. We grimace when we should, and when we shouldn't, and at the end we, the Nip/Tuck addicts, want more. [22 June 2004, p.E1]

It's not so instantly compelling, particularly for the uninitiated. [22 June 2004, p.6E]

Back for a second season after receiving way too much praise in its first, the plastic-surgery drama Nip/Tuck continues to be as garish as its Miami setting. [22 June 2004, p.7]

Whatever my squeamishness, however, my real problem with Nip/Tuck isn't with the surgeries but with the writers, who seem determined to remind us that beauty is only skin deep by taking very pretty people and making them do very ugly things...Over and over. [21 June 2004, p.35]