Extreme Makeover fans are in for a grisly treat with Nip/Tuck (M-Net on Tuesday at 21.30), a slick new series about a pair of plastic surgeons, Sean McNamara (Charmed's Julian McMahon) who operates in a shiny, happy, drug-infused moral vacuum of hedonism and his partner Christian Troy (Dylan Walsh), guilt-ridden over the morality of the choices he's made as a plastic surgeon and dealing with a shaky marriage.
While the sometimes graphic scenes of surgery - expect something a bit more gruesome than the likes of ER and CSI-have a certain macabre appeal, the show's strength lies in its writing and performances which hover between comedy and drama.
Highlights of the pilot include: a butt implant gone awry, an overpriced makeover for a shady drug lord-type, an insecure model ("When you stop striving for perfection," says McNamara, "you might as well be dead") and lashings of nudity, obscenity and drug use.
Australian actor McMahon, 35, was briefly Kylie Minogue's brother-in-law - he was married to Danii Minogue between 1994-95, and he is the son of former Australian Prime Minister, Sir William McMahon.
He studied law at the University of Sydney, but when he became bored with that, he switched to modelling, mainly in commercials, which led to a series of starring roles in Australian soap operas.
He later performed on stage in Britain and in Australia, and after a lead role in the film Wet and Wild Summer! opposite Elliot Gould he was cast in the US soap Another World. More stage work followed before he landed parts on Profiler and Charmed, and now Nip/Tuck.
In an interview McMahon said that the role of McNamara was "a chance of a lifetime.
There were a lot of people who wanted this ...
I had to fight for it really hard. I fought a great battle and I won".
Commenting on the nudity in the show, which stirred up the obligatory controversy in the US, McMahon said: "What I think we are trying to do in this business is expose niches or moments ... parts of life. There are moments we are all going to the bathroom, or taking a shower, or having sex, or a cup of coffee, but we don't get to see it a lot. It doesn't get portrayed, and I think we are scared a lot of the time because you don't want to be gratuitous and have people go, 'Oh that is just them because they want to show some ass.' With this I felt it was a really strong part of the storyline.
It was integral to the characters. I felt it was a necessity to see what these people were."
Nip/Tuck has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, for best Drama Series, and Joely Richardson, who plays Troy's wife, was nominated for Best Actress in a TV Drama
Friday
Angel, the vampire with a soul who now runs a formerly evil law firm returns to the 5pm slot on M-Net in Angel.
Wolfram and Hart, the evil law firm and nemesis to the heroic Angel (David Boreanaz) and his motley band of demon hunters was handed over to Angel and co at the end of the last season, with no (apparent) strings attached. Joining the cast this season - as a ghost - is Spike (James Marsters) the other vampire with a soul, fresh from his death in the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his bubbly ex, the vampire Harmony (Mercedes McNab), who is Angel's secretary. The gang's first case involves representing an evil client who threatens to destroy Los Angeles - the first of many dubious and demonic characters they'll be representing in weeks to come.
Saturday
Jonathan Schneider, the man best-known as Clark Kent's daddy in Smallville, reprises the role that made him famous - Bo Hazzard in Dukes of Hazzard - Hazzard in Hollywood(e.tv at 13.00). The original Dukes of Hazzard TV series aired in the US in the 1970s and 1980s and featured the adventures of the Duke cousins, Coy, Bo and Daisy as they fought crime and corruption in the backwater Hazzard county.
The show developed something of a cult following, and Hazzard in Hollywood is the second of two recent made-for-TV spin-off movies. A big-screen adaptation is in the works, with Ashton Kutcher, Paul Walker and Britney Spears rumoured to be in line to play the Dukes.
Sunday
My reservations about The Block(M-Net at 18.00) - how much fun could a reality show about renovating be? - have been proved unfounded and this series has made its way on to the must-watch list.
Now halfway through the series the couples have to complete the third room; a job that would normally take weeks if not months has to be completed in a few days.
The success of the Australian series has seen its concept sold to US Fox network for $11 million for Fox to create and produce an American version of the series. The Block is the first Australian TV series format sold to a major US network. Britain's ITV was also negotiating for the rights to produce a UK version of the show. The second season of The Block started filming in Sydney last week.
The inimitable Mike Myers returns as Austin Powers, Dr Evil and the villainous Dutchman Goldmember in the excellent spy spoof Austin Powers in Goldmember (M-Net at 20.00).
Beyoncé Knowles and Michael Caine co-star as Foxxy Cleopatra and Austin's father, Nigel Powers, along with series regulars Verne Troyer (Mini-Me), Robert Wagner (Number Two), Mindy Sterling (Fraö Farbissina) and Seth Green as Scott Evil. Highlights of this outing include a cameo-heavy opening sequence and a flashback to Austin and Dr Evil's schooldays and the birth of their rivalry.
In the week
Missing(Monday, SABC2 at 19.30) the supernatural-themed alternative to Without A Trace
(M-Net, Friday at 19.00) is based on a series of novels called 1-800-Where-R-U by Jenny Carroll. Like Without A Trace, Missing is about FBI agent Brooke Haslett (Gloria Reuben) investigating missing persons cases.
The difference is the rather X-Files-style addition of a psychic sidekick for Haslett, Jess Mastriani (Caterina Scorsone).
While this series has a similar format to Without A Trace(psychic visions aside) it's not as polished as that series, but it does make for fairly entertaining viewing.
This week's episode Never Go Against the Family has Agent Brooke butting heads with another FBI agent who is running the investigation of a mob wife's disappearance.
Mavis Rae is a tough-talking, hard-drinking, one-hit wonder ex-diva running a tiny New York hotel in Whoopi (M-Net on Wednesday at 19.30).
Whoopi Goldberg stars as Mavis, the singer who, 15 years earlier, had one huge hit song, and on realising that her initial success was a fluke, she parlayed her finances from that hit into buying the Lamont Hotel.
Whoopi is that rare breed of sitcom that does topical humour -Mavis screams at US president Bush on TV for not being able to pronounce nuclear, and there's an episode which mocks colour-coded security alerts, as Nasim, the Iranian handyman, and Mavis get into a panic over a stray briefcase - but early episodes seem to rely more on Mavis's acerbic zingers than actual plots. Still, Goldberg is nothing if not a reliable performer, so hopefully things will improve.
Carrie is dismayed to find that the passion she and Jack have on their dates doesn't translate to the bedroom in Sex and The City(SABC3, Wednesday at 22.00). Naturally,
she is forced to resort to makeshift voodoo rituals to rectify the problem.
DSTV
The Way We Live Now(BBC Prime, Friday at 21.00) is based on Anthony Trollope's epic tale of Victorian power and corruption set during the railroad boom of the 1870s. Trollope's satirical novel has been dramatised in four parts by award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies .
Four couples test the strength of their relationships in the dubious confines of reality TV on Temptation Island (Series Channel, Friday at 22.00). Expect much flirting, crying and heartbreak as the separated couples indulge in romantic getaways with an assortment of overly attractive singletons.