So what do you guys think will be the first station to begin showing nudity. I know ABC showed bare asses on NYPD Blue (I don’t think they went farther than that). Schindler’s List showed full nudity on NBC, but that was a special case. I don’t think any other channels have shown nudity intentionally. I am certain that the first step is going to be showing women breasts (yeaaaa!). Some channels (I think E! was trhe first) have begun showing topless women who are just painted (I like this), but curiously they blur out the painting process even after the nipples are covered. So what channel do you guys think will begin showing bare breasts for non-educational purposes?
My vote goes for E!. They have been walking the fine line for a long time. First it was the fashion shows with models wearing see through tops, and shirts unbuttoned all they way so that you could see a peek if you had a frame by frame advance. They also did that painting thing, on the “Wild on…” series. Last night i saw Jenna Jameson wearing a steel mesh top that you could clearly see her nipples through, but still doesn’t qualify.
Some other front runners are Fox, Comedy Central, MTV, USA, WB, UPN, any other ideas?
Second question, do you think they’ll hype it the way NYPD Blue did? Or will they just subtlely try to slip it in?
I’ll take sex saturated over censored any day. It’s my belief that the censorship in itself causes the “sex sells” attitude. If you can see it anywhere, wheres the thrill in the ad companies exploiting it? But I really don’t give a damn.
Censorship isn’t the issue. Is sex and nudity paramount to the storyline? You know as well as I do that it’s thrown in for ratings, because sex sells. When it IS paramount to the storyline, no problem. I don’t want censorship either, but gratuitous sex doesn’t foster a mature attitude toward our bodies, women, and sex. It caters to our basic instincts, which is fine if we’re no more evolved than other animals. I like to think humans are capable of more.
OK, I’m off my soapbox, now back to the original question.
“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” - Rhett Butler
Can’t really speak to the intellectual side of this issue, but I can say I’ve seen bare breasts on tv at least twice (all i can think of right now), once on james burke’s show ‘connections’ (pbs? or perhaps the learning channel). didn’t seem central to the plot; i wondered if the show had been recorded in europe where this was more acceptible. the other was a made-for-tv thing involving breast cancer, the actress was the mom from one of those 80’s sitcoms…‘Family Ties’ maybe?
I think sex has its place and I’m by no means a prude, but I often miss the subtle innuendo.
Example:
(I Love Lucy show - Fred and Ricky are watching the fights the bell to end the round rings Fred tells the girls [Lucy & Ethal] he’s running out for some root beer and will be back before the next round)
Lucy: Does he think he can make it all the way to the store and back in less than 2 minutes
Ethal: Lucy he’s got himself trained so he can do “ANYTHING” in less than 2 minutes.
Or another Ethal quote “Lucy since we said I do, there are so many things we don’t.”
No person outside of the network showing the program is qualified to make this judgement. If you don’t think it is paramount to the story line, then you as a consumer can vote with your remote (I like that… it even rhymes) and NOT watch the program. But the ultimate decision about what is and is not important to any storyline belongs to the network that owns the broadcast equipment.
Jason R Remy
“No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.”
– Jimmy Carter (1980)
The Learning Channel showed that series again recently about the human sexes. I think there’s some bare breasts in there, but I don’t remember. The last time I watched it was about 2 years ago. IIRC, my daughter was conceived during one of the episodes…
Remember the nudity in “Titanic”? She was nude while he was sketching her, and we saw her breasts. But during the sex scene, there was no nudity. Quite artfully done, I thought. When the TV folks can get around to figuring out how to do it that way, there will be nudity on TV. At least, I hope they wait until they figure it out…
Nudity on a regular basis on American Television will most likely come from cable.
Even with deregulation the FCC still holds a pretty big stick over broadcast TV.
All it takes are a few viewer complaints to put them into investigatory mode.
That’s not a mode broadcasters like.
I was watching network TV a few months ago (I’ve never had cable) and they were showing a special on breast exams for women. It was 6 pm on a weeknight and breasts were everywhere - the women were giving themselves exams (you know, pushing and rubbing, etc).
My roommate (male) was FREAKED out and very excited - I was amused, but glad the info was available. I believe it was Channel 4 (which is ABC (?) - not positive though, it was several months ago).
I’m sure they got some complaints but it was more informational than sexual. If network TV can do that, I have no idea why cable hasn’t!
A few years back some brave PBS stations showed a mini-series called “Tales of the City,” about San Francisco in the 60’s. There was a fair amount of nudity. I think all they did was issue a “mature content” warning.
Let’s keep our bandwidths straight here. Are we talking about over the air broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, Fox, WB, UPN, PBS) basic cable or premium cable? There’s nothing to stop HBO and Showtime from showing it right now. I think it’ll be a long time before the over the air networks go full-frontal, in a series, but I’d guess it will be in some NYPD Blue-type drama.
Well I though it was assumed we were discussing any channel other than premium cable channels. In reality there isn’t much difference between VHF, UHF, and basic cble channels. Lets just say commercial television.
In America, there is a powerful lobbying group working to discourage nudity on television, and in fact public nudity in general. Yes, that’s right. I’m talking about the clothing industry. You think The Gap is going to spend millions of dollars trying to convince people to buy its goofy vests, then just sit by quietly while the shows they sponsor advocate not wearing anything at all? They have no problem per se with see-through clothing, but they probably try to discourage it anyway for “slippery slope” reasons.
