If you are a regular viewer of the FX series “Nip/Tuck,” and you found last season’s gory story arc involving a knife-wielding weirdo known as “the Carver” a tad ... unsettling, well, you weren’t alone.
“It sort of hung over us all season,” co-star Dylan Walsh said. “It was just sort of gloom and doom. My joke was that we were the only plastic surgeons who should wear badges and carry guns, because it felt like a different show for a while.”
No kidding. With the show’s fourth season set to begin Sept. 5, the cast and creator of “Nip/Tuck” appeared before the nation’s TV critics Tuesday to confess that while last season’s grim subplot was a nice mystery that got the show some great ratings, everyone was glad it was over.
“There was a general level of apprehension of, ‘Is it me? Am I getting fired? What’s happening?’ ” said Joely Richardson, who plays Walsh’s troubled wife on the show. “So I think on that level, too, it was a relief for us to know who the Carver was.” (The Carver turned out to be siblings Quentin Costa and Kit McGraw, played by Bruno Campos and Rhona Mitra.)
Creator Ryan Murphy has recalibrated “Nip/Tuck” in an obvious effort to get it back to the sexy, skin-slicing fun of the first season. And, as an added bonus, he has loaded the new season with guest stars including 72-year-old Larry Hagman, plastic-surgery hater Rosie O’Donnell, Brooke Shields as a shrink (take that, Tom Cruise) and Catherine Deneuve.
“That Carver thing was supposed to be one episode, but the audience reacted to it in such a visceral way,” he said. “Yes, it was a concerted effort to redirect the show back to something that, for me, always was the heart of the show, which is about these three people” — the third being Julian McMahon, who plays Walsh’s partner in the plastic practice.
Also overheard at Pasadena
•“Right now he’s remarkably free of polish, so it’s really a treat for all journalists to be able to witness this evolution of Spike into talk show host.” — Topeka native Stewart Bailey, clearly trying to position former “Seinfeld” writer Spike Feresten as the next Conan O’Brien. “Talk Show With Spike Feresten,” which Bailey will produce, airs after “Mad TV” beginning Sept. 16 on Fox.
•“I believe that every convicted felon in America should have their DNA taken when they are convicted. ... All that stuff you see on TV, ‘CSI’ and ‘Cold Case,’ those things don’t exist. It makes it very hard for juries to convict because they think they’re going to get that concrete spin that they see on ‘CSI.’ ” — “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh. Congress this week passed a bill to track sex offenders nationwide, including DNA collection, that Walsh pushed relentlessly. President Bush is expected to sign it today on the 25th anniversary of the abduction of Walsh’s son, Adam, for whom the act is named.
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