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FX Drama Tucks In More Kink Factor As Plastic Surgeons Relocate To L.A.

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By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2007

The kinky, sexy, freaky drama 'Nip/Tuck' comes back to FX at 10 tonight with a new look and tone.

Call it a transplant and face-lift.

The drama's two swinging cosmetic surgeons, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon), have left Miami for Hollywood, where the kink factor goes over the top. Not only do they wind up as consultants to a laughable prime time medical drama, 'Hearts 'n' Scalpels,' but they also get a whole new batch of weird clients.

The season opener, for example, includes a masochistic film producer who needs cosmetic work to cover up damage caused by his dominatrix. Episode 2 features rival Marilyn Monroe look-alikes, and there's an episode coming up involving cannibalism.

The series tune-up came about because creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy got bored with the status quo.

For this fifth season, he says, he wanted and got a few million dollars more from FX to spruce up the studio sets and the digs for the actors.

He also wanted to change the locale from Miami to Los Angeles, 'where dreams go to die,' he said in a recent telephone interview.

'Every season has a villain, and this year, it is Los Angeles,' he says. 'It is the plastic surgery capital of the world, so it's perfect.'

As for Sean and Christian, they ruled Miami as plastic surgeons, but now they are small fish in a bigger pond, Murphy says. Because they are older than 40, it's not going to be easy for them to swim in this pond.

The narcissistic Christian is especially hard-hit by a midlife crisis. His attempt at a makeover on tonight's episode, however, does not make him a star.

Murphy says the first few episodes have a lighter tone than previous seasons, but he assures fans that the dark, twisted soul of the series remains.

Lacking clients, the docs start out their Hollywood careers by going barhopping to pass out their cards to women. They stumble upon a ruthless publicist played by guest star Lauren Hutton., whose character will help them get plugged in, and soon they will be joined by their anesthesiologist, Liz (Roma Maffia), and nurse, Linda (Linda Klein).

Joely Richardson is returning as Sean's ex-wife, Julia. The British actress left the series last season to care for her 15-year-old daughter, Daisy, who has a rare circulatory condition that required a series of operations on her legs.

Julia returns with a new love, an acupuncturist played by Portia de Rossi, the real-life partner of Ellen DeGeneres. Richardson has said she thinks the lesbian fling 'makes perfect sense because she has been so screwed over by those two men.'

Other guest stars this season will include Oliver Platt as the flaky director of 'Hearts 'n' Scalpels'; Jennifer Coolidge and Paula Marshall as actresses; Sharon Gless as a talent agent; Marlee Matlin as a network executive; and Rosie O'Donnell reprising her lowlife Dawn Budge character.

Episode 3 features the return of Julia's son, Matt (John Hensley), and his wife, Kimber (Kelly Carlson). The Scientology converts arrive with a drug problem and a baby daughter named after celebrity Scientology disciple Jenna Elfman.

Murphy, who has feature films in the works, including one about Alfred Hitchcock, says 'Nip/Tuck' has always been about unhappy people searching for fulfillment that they will never find because they keep making the wrong choices.

'You can't fix your life by fixing your nose,' he says. 'I think it's the wrong way to go; but if people think they need it to get through the day, it should be their choice.'

Since the series began, an aging population, improved technology, widespread access and the popularity of medical series on television (real and fictional) have led to a boom in cosmetic procedures.

Procedures are expected to top

$2 billion in 2007, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. In 2006, more than 329,000 women had breast augmentation, making it the most popular cosmetic surgery.

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