TVSquad

FX announced their fall premiere dates today and it turns out that they've got quite the schedule lined up for the autumn months.

With Rescue Me set to end it's 22 episode fifth season on Tuesday, September 1st, it comes as no surprise that Sons of Anarchy has been scheduled to fill the Tuesday 10PM ET time-slot starting the very next week on September 8th. The motorcycle drama's sophomore season is generating a lot of buzz ever since the announcement of Henry Rollins and Adam Arkin joining the cast.

But wait - there's more!

Not even the marvels of plastic surgery could save what's become, believe it or not, one of cable TV's oldest dramas - Nip/Tuck.

The wildly successful medical drama starring Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh as plastic surgeons wrapped production on its series finale (and 100th episode) last week and according to The LA Times, it was a quiet day.

Why the lack of fanfare typically associated with the end of such a popular show? Simple - the finale likely won't air until 2011, around two years from now.

(S05E22) "Can I call you Mommy now?" - Wilbur

Well it took about a year and a half (thank you WGA strike), but Nip/Tuck's twenty-two episode fifth season has finally come to a close. As a finale, this episode delivered exactly what I was looking for: a few unanswered questions to leave us hanging as well as a few answers we've been waiting to have addressed since the first half of the season. Even better? There wasn't another one of those weird lip-syncing montages. One of those was enough.

(S05E21) "It's not easy knowing that your whole life is gonna go on without you." - Christian

It's hard to imagine what this show would be like if Christian were to die now. I'd like to think that Ryan Murphy and Co. will actually follow through on what's been an emotional rollercoaster for fans, watching Christian's cancer's ups and downs. If he somehow survives, I'll honestly be disappointed. Dr. Troy needs to die for this story to pay off. So the question is, when's he gonna kick it?

(S05E20) "I had sex with a doll once." - Sean

That was a funny line, huh? Especially since Kimber, the model for "the doll," was right in the next room. That was it in for funnies though in this week's episode of Nip/Tuck. Instead, it was one of the saddest, most depressing, and thought provoking hours the show has had in a long time. It was excellent.

Between Sean's new found free spirit and Christian's two life changing events, there's been a lot set up not just for the final two episodes of this season, but for the final sixth season (or sixth and seventh if those 19 eps get split up) as well.

On top of that, the episode featured one of the more interesting cases Drs. McNamara and Troy have had in some time. The show returned to its roots (no pun intended), and took on the case of Budi Sabri, a man afflicted with the same warts as the Tree Man from Indonesia. Very much a "ripped from the headlines" surgery. Or "ripped from the ground." Pun intended that time.

(S05E19) "Namaste home at night and play with that thing, oh yeah!" - Nurse Linda

I clearly don't have the same set of skills as Manny Skerritt or else I wouldn't own a TV and would therefore have never seen this episode of Nip/Tuck. As this week's patient-du-jour, Manny "I've got a Tyrannosaurus prick" Skerritt reminded me of how funny this show can actually be. The guy that got breast implants in season two comes to mind. However, if there's one lesson to learn from Manny's "addiction," it's that just because it feels good doesn't make it right.

(S05E18) "Sometimes I think that the only way for me to stop him is to cut off my hands." - Raj

It's rare when it happens, but every so often on Nip/Tuck, I just don't care about Sean or Christian. Either because their circumstances have become stale or there's a better sub-plot taking place. In this instance, both reasons played a role. The Christian/Liz plot has become annoyingly predictable and Sean's continuing woe-is-me complex is starting to give me one of my own from watching it. But underneath all that, the Raj and Ricky Wells threads were extremely entertaining.

(S05E17) "Christian, I don't like men. I like you." - Liz

Christian and Liz?!? Can anyone honestly say that they ever saw this coming? Of course, the opposites attract argument exists - "butch lesbian anesthesiologist" and "slightly mysoginistic sex-crazed plastic surgeon" are just about as far apart as you can get. But I suppose it only makes sense that the guy who uses woman before he trusts them starts to fall for the woman he in theory shouldn't be able to have because, Christian put it best, "she's a lesbian!"

Despite all the pitfalls that this relationship certainly has (Christian is not a one woman guy - especially when that woman plays for the other team), at least it's something different. Once again, the "Sean still loves Julia" plot reared it's annoying head. We get it already. The proponents of this awkward courtship will argue that we don't know who Sean is without Julia and that's why he's always carried the torch. But that's just it - I don't know who Sean is without Julia either and it doesn't seem like Ryan Murphy and Co. plan on telling us.

(S05E16) "Let me tell you what I don't like about yourself." - Raj

Eh... not so much. It's not that "Gene Shelly" was a bad episode, it was just awfully predictable for the whole hour. Every time something new happened, the result was painfully obvious. It took away the impact from a few things that otherwise, should have been pretty powerful moments. The one highlight? Dr. Puresh. Everything that kid says is comic gold.

(S05E15) "Shaft had tit cancer?" - Christian

She sure made it look easy, huh?

After the way part one of this season ended, with Sean finding out who Colleen really was, most were amazed when they saw Colleen jamming a knife into Sean's back in the mid-season finale. With his new celebrity status, the likely restraining order Sean had out on Colleen, and the assumption that there must have been some sort of security at the new McNamara/Troy LA office, it seemed unlikely that Colleen would have been able to get within 100 feet of Sean. Not the case.

Again, she made it look easy.

It's hard to believe, but there are only 27 episodes of Nip/Tuck left. Not that many, is it? Granted, those final installments will be spread over the next three or so years, but it's really not many if you think about it.

As you may recall, when season five of Nip/Tuck was initially greenlit, FX ordered 22 episodes. Prior to that, no season had aired more than 15. I was ecstatic at the time and when season five finally arrived, I couldn't contain myself. Then the writer's strike hit and suddenly, 22 turned into 14. Eight episodes remain and the "disturbingly perfect drama" finally returns to FX to wrap up its fifth season on Tuesday, January 6th at 10PM ET.

Last we saw the McNamara/Troy family, tragedy had struck in numerous ways. The mid-season premiere, "Ronnie Chase," picks right up where the season left off last winter.

The wait is finally over. After having its last season cut short from 22 episodes to 14 due to the WGA Strike, Nip/Tuck is set to return in January 2009 and FX has been airing some great promos to get fans ready.

However, because of the strike, episode number counts, renewal news, and other tidbits of info all sort of got mashed together. So here's what I'm guessing is going to happen after the New Year...

Between finishing up Nip/Tuck, working on his new pilots Glee and 4 oz. (that one may be dead now?) for FOX and FX respectively, and preparing two new feature length films, it's pretty clear that Ryan Murphy's new pact with 20th Century Fox is going to net him a boatload of cash. The one thing he won't need to spend any of it on? A mattress. No man with this many jobs has time to close his eyes.

Now comes word that he still isn't satisfied with his workload. Variety is reporting that Murphy has another show in the works with NBC called Hyper-chondriac. Based on a book by Brian Frazer, the series will focus on a pharmaceutical rep who thinks he's sick all the time with who knows what. The half-hour sitcom will be exec produced and directed by Murphy.

Plastic surgery, transsexuals, hypochondriacs ... and high school glee clubs. Quite the eclectic list for a slate of ongoing and upcoming projects. Maybe this guy shouldn't sleep. His dreams must be ridiculous.

That being said, he created Nip/Tuck, so I'm willing to watch anything he puts his name on.

FOX's second day on TCA was given over to FX, and network president John Landgraf had some news:

• They are ordering an additional 19 episodes of Nip/Tuck. The show will be end its run in early 2011 with an even 100 episodes. Show-runner Ryan Murphy wil stay through the end of the run.
• Michael J. Fox will appear on a four episode arc of Rescue Me next season. He'll play Janet Gavin's new boyfriend, who is confined to a wheelchair.
• Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden will be a regular on second season of Damages.
• The network has ordered 39 more episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is in addition to 13 currently being produced for the upcoming season.
• They are ordering 13 episode of new comedy series Testees, created by Kenny Hotz (South Park - Kenny vs Spenny). Its about two friends in their early 30's who earn living as medical guinea pigs.

With Battlestar ending, and Bionic Woman ended, the lovely and talented Ms. Sackhoff could use a new gig. Why not Nip/Tuck? Sackhoff is set to join the FX series for a four episode arc as Dr. Theodora "Teddy" Lowe. She's said to present a challenge for Sean (Dylan Walsh).

But wait, there's more. What's better than Katee Sackhoff on Nip/Tuck? How about some Morgan Fairchild? She will be appearing for one episode as a movie star. I suppose we could debate which is actually better, but for me, there is just something about Morgan Fairchild. Whichever you prefer, both are nice additions for the show. Read on past the jump for more casting notes from Caprica, Warehouse 13, and that crazy sounding House spin-off idea.