OUT OF INSPIRATION

Crazy twists are the bread and butter of "Nip/Tuck." From the get-go, or maybe it was from the moment Sean (Dylan Walsh) made love to the Kimber blow-up doll, fans have known that the series would be built on one insane turn after another. But still, in the first episode of season four, when Sean and Christian sell out to Burt and Michelle Landau, the show began a slide into unevenness, redundancy, and lack of focus. Christian's affair with Michelle was particularly undramatic and pointless — it was as if the writers didn't know how to follow-up on the show's triumphant Carver season.