Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Nip/Tuck Season 6: When Will It Air?


For several months visitors to In A Lather have consistently entered the search query "when will Nip/Tuck Season 6 air?". i was planning to wait a few more months to post this item, but patience has never been a strong quality for me. i'm going through Nip/Tuck withdrawal too, and i figure i should do my part to help ease the suffering by sharing this information with those who don't already know. Besides which my stats tell me that number is larger than i'd thought.

Episodes for Nip/Tuck Season 6 will air in January 2009.


"eight spanking fresh new episodes air in mid-january through march.
Then back on the air in January 10 for nine more.
Then back on the air in January 11 for the final nine." ~ August 9, 2008, Ryan Murphy, Creator of Nip/Tuck


Mr. Murphy's message re-affirms the announcement made July 15, 2008 by FX President and GM John Landgraf at the Television Critics Association Press Tour.

"Nip/Tuck has already aired 14 episodes of its current fifth season; the remaining eight are set to premiere in January."
The Hollywood Reporter

5th or 6th Season---this is where there seems to be a potato/pahtahto thing happening with Nip/Tuck fans and the FX network. The network has categorized the episodes scheduled to air in January '09 as the remainder of Season 5. The fans perceive it as the beginning of Nip/Tuck Season 6. The crux of the matter being the contractual agreement for the series' 5th season was for 22 episodes, of which 14 were aired in 2008. The remaining 8 episodes of Season 5's 22 will air in January '09. Frankly i couldn't care less what number is assigned to the season, i'm just happy to know they survived what might have been a longer term WGA job action, as well as a still lurking possibility of a SAG strike.

Another point of anxiety for fans is the announcement of the end of Nip/Tuck's run. Yes it is true that we will not have first run episodes for an eternity. But it is also true that the show will not conclude it's first run airings on FX until the year 2011. That's 3 years from now. Some who covered this story back in July did so imho in an irresponsible manner. In an attempt to garner attention the focus was heavily placed on the "cancellation" of Nip/Tuck, and cursory acknowledgement of the cancellation date being 2011. To imply the show would be concluding sooner rather than later was shoddy and cruel corresponding at least and inaccurate at most. No show lasts forever, and if it must come to an end, i'd rather see it go out at a peak rather than a plateau or worse yet a nadir. All involved with Nip/Tuck seem to agree that's a good strategy.

Asked why he decided to bring "Nip/Tuck" to an end, Landgraf said he doubts any FX drama would ever run beyond 100 episodes, saying that serialized dramas have a much different storytelling model than nonserialized shows such as "Law & Order" or "CSI."

"If you tried to do 150 episodes of 'The Sopranos,' you would begin to diminish the quality of those shows," he said. "The David Chases ('Sopranos') and Shawn Ryans ('The Shield'), they're taking on social commentary and grand sweeping questions. If we want to go after that brass ring, we have to accept they have limited shelf life."
The Hollywood Reporter

The 2011 end-date should not really come as a surprise since Ryan Murphy alluded to that very time frame in an interview given in 2007 during the show's 4th season:






Mr.'s Landgraf and Murphy will be with the FX network for Nip/Tuck's remaining seasons, and as much as i will miss first run eps of Nip/Tuck 3 years from now, i think it's best that when their contracts with the network have concluded, their "#1 scripted series in basic cable among adults 18-49 five years in a row", come to it's natural end. This is not a time to mourn, it is a time to savor.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank god~! I was starting to panick..... I love this show and it is too my crack.... I cant wait til Jan....And Just Like lost I am glad that the show has an end date, because as much as I love it... I would rather have a great ending planned than for the show to just get cancelled during an off season due to low ratings leaving us fans to make up our own endings. ~Ricketta

sookietex said...

Hi Ricketta, happy to spread the good word :-). Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Here's a couple of other in a lather links that may be of interest.

Nip//Tuck Season 6 More Promos {yea!}

Scar and Karma

Nip/Tuck Season 6 January 6 2009 10:00pm

Anonymous said...

i wonder if another television network will try to pick up the series after the "series finale" in 2011....it seems like a lot of the major networks(fox, cbs, nbc, and abc) are having difficulty developing any shows that seem to have a long life span...i hate to see nip/tuck go, and i'm torn between being happy that the show is going to have a superb finale or being mad that a show of this caliber(not too many shows have the personality or storyline of nip/tuck) won't make it to at least 10 seasons!

sookietex said...

Hi josh, what a great question! i don't know the answer, but i'll do some digging to try to find one. If another network does pick up the show after it's first run eps are complete, it seems like Fox would be the most natural extension since they and FX are under the same umbrella, if you will. i completely agree with you about Nip/Tuck's personality and storylines---their scripts, sets, directors, performers, music, etc., have spoiled me to the point where even when i find other shows i like i.e. Damages, Dexter, Big Love, i find myself comparing them to Nip/Tuck.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Manda The Magnificent said...

oh man so i have to wait until next january for the rest of the christian story?? ive been an avid watcher for 6 year since the very first season. my mom swears christian loves kimber still. i think its the other way around and christian just feels its always just been "easy" to "love" kimber because she bowed to his every wish. what do you think?

sookietex said...

Hi Manda, thanks for stopping by. The January date referenced in this post was for earlier this year [2009]. There was some confusion as to the # for that season---the fans were referring to it as the 6th, ultimately FX categorized it as the 5th season part 1 and then the last season that just aired as season 5 part 2. i don't have a start date yet for the next Nip/Tuck season [season 6], but i'll post when i find out. Anywho i say all that to get us up to speed season number-wise...when we last saw Doctor Christian Troy,

[SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!]


he was getting the good news that his cancer was in remission and that he is not terminally ill [hooray :-)] The bad news is that he got that information as he was about to go on his honeymoon with his bride Doctor Liz Cruz. It's not that he doesn't love Liz, but the main motive for marrying her was that he thought he was going to croak in 6 months. Let's face it, our boy Troy is not meant to be married to Liz or anyone---despite 2 previous attempts to tie the knot respectively with Michelle and Kimber. Speaking of Kimber, to answer your question about what do i think about who loves whom...a few years ago Julian McMahon said in an interview with TV Guide that he thought that "Christian holds everybody in his heart whom he's spent time with to a certain extent. I don't think---he's not as cruel as you may think he is."

i tend to agree with that assessment, but i also think that Christian knows he could pretty much ask anything of Kimber and she would say yes if she thinks it means he'll be hers. i often think about the episode when he stopped by Kimber's place after Michelle rejected him and he'd had a few, and stopped by Kimber's for a night-cap. Christian pretended to have an interest in Scientology and he and Kimber ended up in bed [duh]. When Kimber asked if all he really wanted was to get laid why didn't he go to one of his "whores", he answered with 'whores only give you their bodies. I needed someone who could make me feel like the most important person in the world. You're the only one who can do that for me.'

So imho i think that's basically it---Kimber is good for the doc's ego. They know how to press each other's buttons. i think Kimber thinks she loves him, and they do on some level hold each other in their hearts, but ultimately, given the chance, she will use him in the same way that he uses her. Lucky for us 'cause it makes for lots of drama ;-)

Anonymous said...

Can i ask you about something..... i search for Nip tuck and i find you.... :)

I just wonder when come the new next episode of Nip/tuck?

sookietex said...

Hi Anonymous i'm glad you found me and i hope you're having fun at In A Lather :-) i don't know when FX will have re-runs of Nip/Tuck Season 5 part 2, but if i had to guess i would say probably September or October 2009. i'm basing my guess on the next season, Season 6 beginning in January 2010. If i get an exact start date i'll post as soon as i know.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Anonymous said...

hello, in the end of season 5 sean was stabbed by cagney (of all people) so do i have to wait until jan 2010 to see if he made it on fx ... with thanks.

sookietex said...

Hi Anonymous, i don't know where you live so i can only give a guess as to when the answer to the cliff-hanger will air in your town. Here in the states we have already seen the outcome. i'm not going to give details because i don't want to spoil it for you or anyone else who may not have seen the next ep, but i will give you a hint...remember what Christian said to Sean just before he went to check on Darlene, "everything's going to be o.k." ;-)

Thanks for stopping by :-)

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