Prisons & Pedophilia: 'Nip/Tuck' Jumps the Shark

It's official: "Nip/Tuck" has gone from one of TV's best series at its peak to one of the most horridly unpleasant.

The most recent episode, featuring a delightful mix of prison rape and pedophilia, moved closer to "unwatchable" than I would have thought possible, given how much I enjoyed the series in the early part of its run.

The FX drama has never really recovered from its inane resolution to "The Carver" serial slasher storyline, but the program rebounded somewhat in its last flight of episodes. During the current run, however, it's only reason for being seems to be trying to one-up itself in terms of sheer repulsiveness, or testing how ridiculous the plots can become.

I mean, a mime bandit? Seriously? We might have to amend that popular slogan to "Jump the Mime."

At this point, the only reason I'm still watching is because having come this far, it would be nice to complete the journey and see where the show wraps up. But it's hard to remember a series where the wheels came off so completely. Even "Heroes" hasn't fallen this far, this fast creatively.

Maybe it's time those responsible took a look in the mirror and asked, "Tell me what you still like about your show." Personally, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with an answer.