First Oral Sex Scene on Network TV

[EllisDee]

@SmartAleq

Is FX a network?

No.

To clarify for everyone who doesn’t know what the term “broadcast network” means, it means free, over-the-air stations. This is not a pedantic issue, as broadcast networks (free over the air) are regulated by the FCC for indecency (before 10pm), and can be fined quite a bit of money if they swear or show nudity and somebody complains.

Premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime are obviously not broadcast networks, with swearing, nudity, and no in-program commercials.

Cable networks like FX, USA, TNT, Comedy Central, etc… look and feel like broadcast networks due to the commercials and lack of swearing and nudity, but they are not. They are not regulated by the FCC, which is why shows like The Shield can have swearing and nudity. The other big clue is that you cannot watch them by plugging in a rabbit-ears TV to a power outlet; you must pay somebody to watch them.

The entire reason the FCC exists is the idea that kids can easily access broadcast TV, so it should maintain a modicum of decency when kids are watching. If you don’t want your kid seeing the bad stuff on cable, don’t pay for it and your kids will be physically unable to watch it. You can’t tell parents to just throw away the TV to keep idecent broadcast shows away from them because broadcast TV is a vital resource via the Emergency Broadcast System. So the free stuff that all kids can watch (broadcast networks) are regulated.

Note that after 10pm, broadcast TV is not regulated by the FCC. This cuts through all timezones, though, so that means all of primetime is regulated since primetime runs from 7pm to 10pm in the Central time zone.

The only reason you don’t see much swearing or nudity on basic cable or on broadcast TV after 10pm is because putting that content in your show will drive away 90% of advertisers. (I actually read that stat recently, but can’t remember where.)

EDIT: The same applies to radio. Free radio is regulated by the FCC, while satellite radio is not. I believe there are a couple politicians who want to extend the FCC’s purview to include pay services, which I find highly objectionable. Why should all my entertainment be sanitized for children?

[kidneyfailure]

@Bryan_Ekers

I suppose arguably he could have been kissing her tummy, and that’s probably what a lot of embarrassed parents told their curious children that night.

How many kids do you think watched LA Law with their parents?

[Voyager]

@BrotherCadfael

]Movies shown on broadcast TV count - if the scene in question is broadcast. By that metric, I’ll Take Manhattan counts.

Then I nominate Silver Streak from 1976, which I’m sure has been seen on TV. The oral sex is vital to the plot. Gene Wilder and Jill Clayburgh have gone back to his room, and he is flat on his back, with a good view, when he sees a body fall in front of his window, which starts off the plot. I don’t see how they could cut this scene without the movie making no sense at all, but what is happening is implied, not explicit.

[Sampiro]

Has the frontal nudity taboo (male or female) ever been broken on prime time network television? Some channels aired Schindler’s List uncut which included scenes of frontal nudity among concentration camp inmates- some aired a censored version- but I’m referring to television series. While I’m sure we’ve never seen an actual penis or public area, have we ever seen a partial one or pubes even?
(The most likely to do so would probably be a medical show like E.R. showing it in a non-sexual context.)

[Bryan_Ekers]

@kidneyfailure

@Bryan_Ekers

I suppose arguably he could have been kissing her tummy, and that’s probably what a lot of embarrassed parents told their curious children that night.

How many kids do you think watched LA Law with their parents?

I honestly don’t know. I have to assume a few, what with America of the 1980s being such a decadent atheist hotbed of liberal welfare-mooching pinko radicals.

[astro]

@Sampiro

At least I think it was Mr. Rogers. Anybody else remember these episodes?

Sesame Street slash? Got a story about Snuffleupagus?

[Justin_Bailey]

@Sampiro

Has the frontal nudity taboo (male or female) ever been broken on prime time network television? Some channels aired Schindler’s List uncut which included scenes of frontal nudity among concentration camp inmates- some aired a censored version- but I’m referring to television series. While I’m sure we’ve never seen an actual penis or public area, have we ever seen a partial one or pubes even?
(The most likely to do so would probably be a medical show like E.R. showing it in a non-sexual context.)

Chicago Hope was the first network show to show a topless woman (after surgery). It was also the first show to feature the word “shit” after the 10 PM watershed.

Chicago Hope | Firsts

[EllisDee]

@Sampiro

(The most likely to do so would probably be a medical show like E.R. showing it in a non-sexual context.)

ER had actually shot and was prepared to air an episode in which an elderly lady was shown topless during emergency treatment. But because of the climate Janet Jackson created with her Superbowl halftime show, they ended up having to pixelate her chest or risk severe fines from the FCC.

[GHO57]

@EllisDee

@SmartAleq

Is FX a network?

No.

To clarify for everyone who doesn’t know what the term “broadcast network” means, it means free, over-the-air stations. This is not a pedantic issue, as broadcast networks (free over the air) are regulated by the FCC for indecency (before 10pm), and can be fined quite a bit of money if they swear or show nudity and somebody complains.

Premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime are obviously not broadcast networks, with swearing, nudity, and no in-program commercials.

Cable networks like FX, USA, TNT, Comedy Central, etc… look and feel like broadcast networks due to the commercials and lack of swearing and nudity, but they are not. They are not regulated by the FCC, which is why shows like The Shield can have swearing and nudity. The other big clue is that you cannot watch them by plugging in a rabbit-ears TV to a power outlet; you must pay somebody to watch them.

Thanks, that’s what I was looking for. Always wondered about it.

[AK84]

Tru Blood. Lie back and think of Estonia.

Definatly not safe for work.

[zamboniracer]

@BrotherCadfael

I recall a scene from a 1987 movie called I’ll Take Manhattan, where Valerie Bertinelli – yes, Barbara Cooper herself – unbuckled her guy’s belt in a manner that left no doubt whatsoever what was about to transpire. It was so blatant (even on its network TV broadcast) that even my mother-in-law commented on it.

Movies don’t count. If it did, the infamous The Brown Bunny would have been brought up by now. (I assume Dopers are smart enough to know why this movie would come up in this thread.)

IMDB lists “I’ll take Manhattan” as a TV miniseries, which would qualify it for this thread. Link

[JSexton]

@Superhal

I think she’s full of it. I haven’t seen the clip, but I can guarantee it’s implied sex.

The only time you’re ever going to see genitalia on the networks is on PBS or a medical documentary (and even then, an 80-90% chance of it being hidden or censored.)

You could show a fairly explicit blowjob without showing genitalia. Woman kneeling in front of the guy, bobbing up and down, man clearly enjoying it. No genitals shown, but probably too raunchy for primetime network TV.

[ministryman]

@EllisDee

A dopey sitcom did this, with the wife trying something new by blowing her husband in the car while he was driving. They crash, cop asks what happened, husband says “Show him, honey!”

I forget which show, maybe Everybody Loves Raymond or Malcom In The Middle or something like that. The couple definitely wasn’t young; 40s at least.

I think you were thinking of the movie, “Parenthood”.

[Justin_Bailey]

Another almost is the Firefly episode “Heart of Gold.” There’s a very clear blowjob in the episode, but it was never aired because Fox canceled the show days before it would have been shown.

Of course, all us Browncoats know the rest of the story.

[Moirai]

Jay Mohr’s short-lived but pretty damned clever series “Action” featured what he claimed was the first guy-on-guy oral on a TV series (plus that show also featured Illeana Douglas giving Keanu Reeves a hand-job…). That was in 1999-2000.

[dhkendall]

@BrotherCadfael

@dhkendall

Movies don’t count. If it did, the infamous The Brown Bunny would have been brought up by now. (I assume Dopers are smart enough to know why this movie would come up in this thread.)

Movies shown on broadcast TV count - if the scene in question is broadcast. By that metric, I’ll Take Manhattan counts.

Ah, my bet is, even without the very explicit (ie no fakery whatsoever, you can clearly see Vincent Gallo’s penis in Chloë Sevigny’s mouth for several minutes) blowjob in The Brown Bunny, it wouldn’t be shown on network TV because, from the reviews I’ve heard, the movie is one of the most heinous crimes against celluloid ever committed. Even after Gallo relented and made a version without the explicit sex (all the while protesting that it was essential to the plot, case could be made either way, frankly) the movie is still incredibly awful.

@Sampiro

Around 1972 there was an episode of Mr. Rogers in which Queen Sarah Saturday wanted to borrow a book from the library but couldn’t find the librarian, Milady Stacks. […]

@Superhal

The only time you’re ever going to see genitalia on the networks is on PBS or a medical documentary (and even then, an 80-90% chance of it being hidden or censored.)

That’s why Mr. Rogers was on PBS!

@astro

Sesame Street slash? Got a story about Snuffleupagus?

“I’m hung like a snuffleupagus. Trouble is, only Big Bird can see it” - some comedian from the 80s

[Sean_Factotum]

@Justin_Bailey

@Sampiro

Has the frontal nudity taboo (male or female) ever been broken on prime time network television? Some channels aired Schindler’s List uncut which included scenes of frontal nudity among concentration camp inmates- some aired a censored version- but I’m referring to television series. While I’m sure we’ve never seen an actual penis or public area, have we ever seen a partial one or pubes even?
(The most likely to do so would probably be a medical show like E.R. showing it in a non-sexual context.)

Chicago Hope was the first network show to show a topless woman (after surgery). It was also the first show to feature the word “shit” after the 10 PM watershed.

Chicago Hope - Wikipedia

What about Roots? That was broadcast in 1977, and there were topless women in the first episode (the scenes in Africa when Kunte was captured and put on the ship to America.) But as far as I can remember, there were no blowjobs shown or implied. Just boobies.

[xizor]

@bup

There was an episode where June told Ward the Beaver needed a tongue-lashing.

June: “Ward, don’t you think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night?”

[Justin_Bailey]

@Sean_Factotum

@Justin_Bailey

Chicago Hope was the first network show to show a topless woman (after surgery). It was also the first show to feature the word “shit” after the 10 PM watershed.

Chicago Hope - Wikipedia

What about Roots? That was broadcast in 1977, and there were topless women in the first episode (the scenes in Africa when Kunte was captured and put on the ship to America.) But as far as I can remember, there were no blowjobs shown or implied. Just boobies.

You’ve got to read the first carefully. Chicago Hope was the network show to do it. Roots was a miniseries.

[BrotherCadfael]

@Sean_Factotum

What about Roots? That was broadcast in 1977, and there were topless women in the first episode (the scenes in Africa when Kunte was captured and put on the ship to America.) But as far as I can remember, there were no blowjobs shown or implied. Just boobies.

“Nudity above the waist is OK below the equator.”