Funny Girl Jennifer Elise Cox Teases a Time-Trippy Nip/Tuck!

Tonight's episode of FX's Nip/Tuck (Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET) splits its time between the present day, when Julia is preparing to leave Sean and Christian behind for good, and the year 2026, when a grown-up Annie and Conor McNamara reveal just how troubled an upbringing they each endured. Playing adult Annie is Jennifer Elise Cox (the Brady Bunch movies, Lovespring International), who recently gave TVGuide.com a sneak peek at the future-shock ahead, and also talked up her new, freewheeling comedy series.

TVGuide: Were you a fan at all of Nip/Tuck going into this role?
Jennifer Elise Cox: Oh, my god, I am a stalker-obsessed fan. I've been watching it since Season 1. It's my favorite show on television. So, of course, when I got the call about this, I was jumping up and down.

TVGuide: You know, I've been told by visually impaired people that I'm a dead ringer for Julian McMahon....
Cox: Really?! Wow, the ladies love Julian McMahon....

TVGuide: So who called you to say, "We want you to be our grown-up Annie"?
Cox: [Nip/Tuck creator] Ryan Murphy and Liz Dean, who casts the show, called me. I mean, to play a McNamara was right up there with getting to play Jan Brady. It's that hot. [Laughs]

TVGuide: What kind of issues is grown-up Annie having? What did her childhood do to her?
Cox: I don't want to give away too much, but Annie has witnessed a lot of drama, right? I mean, she saw her mother flush her pet gerbil, Frisky One, down the toilet.... She's seen a lot, so she's going to have some issues.

TVGuide: What kind of a person has she turned out to be?
Cox: Well, she may not be the sweet Annie that we once knew. [Laughs]

TVGuide: What, is she turning tricks, a serial killer...?
Cox: I just think that she's had some "adjustment" problems. She's 30 now, and living with a lot of resentment toward her parents.

TVGuide: Actually, the episode breakdown says she is 29....
Cox: Oh, it does? Let's age down, please! Yes! She's 29! Keep her in her twenties!

TVGuide: What else is life like in 2026? Do we have flying cars, orgasmatrons like Woody Allen promised us in Sleeper?
Cox: Ooh, orgasmatrons — I wish! That sounds good. We have phone chips installed in our ears, I know for sure, which I'm a little bit scared about. You just tap on your ear lightly [to dial], and tap to turn it off. You know, the costumer designer, she did such an incredible job with the costumes. I had some Barbarella-looking outfits that were pretty hot. And I have a kind of Judy Jetson outfit as well. The fashions are beautiful in 2026, so that's something that we have to look forward to.

TVGuide: Do you think this might lead to some Nip/Tuck spin-off set in the future?
Cox: It's so funny because Dylan Walsh, who plays my dad, kept saying, "I smell spin-off! 'Nip/Tuck 2026!'" [Laughs]

TVGuide: You also have a new series, 10 Items or Less, coming up, right?
Cox: Yes! It premieres Nov. 27 at 11 pm on TBS, and it's really, really funny. It's about a mom-and-pop grocery store in Ohio called Greens & Grains, and my character, Amy, runs Super Value Mart, the big chain box store there to crush their business. I wear a pretty spectacular, pink, poly-blend suit. We shot the show in an actual grocery store in Reseda, and I was walking around with my name tag and all day long people were like, "Where's the bread? Where's the milk?" [Laughs] I was like, "I don't know, I'm just a stupid actress, but I would guess... Aisle 5?"

TVGuide: Have you ever clerked at a store, worked as a cashier?
Cox: Before I got into acting, I scooped ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, and that was a lot of fun. And I worked at Ann Taylor at the Glendale Galleria. And I worked for this store called The White House, where you had to wear all white clothing. It's cool, and they sell beautiful things, but it was kind of weird wearing all white every day. I'm really slobby, so....

TVGuide: Were you a friendly sales associate, or did you sometimes let the snark out?
Cox: I was super-friendly, because I was just happy to have a job. [Laughs]

TVGuide: Any word on a second season of Lovespring International?
Cox: We haven't heard anything, so I have no idea. They seem to think that if it doesn't work out on Lifetime, they're going to move it somewhere else.

TVGuide: And did I hear that National Lampoon's Pledge This! might finally be getting released — straight to DVD?
Cox: Did you? You know what's so funny? While we were shooting Nip/Tuck, [Pledge This! costar] Paris Hilton was down the block, somebody told me.

TVGuide: Thank you for specifying which Paris. I was thinking perhaps the Greek mythology figure.
Cox: [Laughs] Hey, it could have been Paris, France.

Send your comments on this Q&A to online_insider@tvguide.com.