Mike Lipton

For all its "look what we can get away with" grandstanding and scalpel-sharp wit, Nip/Tuck succeeds best when it deftly pierces the heart.

In its second season this gritty frontier drama still boasts the most colorfully eccentric ensemble of any show on TV. But Al Swearengen, the malignly glowering saloon boss, played to the hilt by Golden Globe winner Ian McShane, is first among equals.

Too bad there isn't more onstage action, which is when these folks are at their funniest. Instead, we get to see them being insecure, neurotic and nasty.

The season's nicest surprise.

Sheen's deadpan cool is the refreshing flip side to Fox's hyperkinetic heat, and his edgy chemistry with Heather Locklear has potential.

Once hot show sliding toward X-tinction.

This once-steady sitcom may now be stuck in neutral.

The singles scene must be pretty bleak if women would rather mass for a prime-time cattle call than go out on a blind date.

Millennium ... has grown more pretentious and less coherent with each new installment.