I have always believed that as the actresses’ get more power and prestige as the show grows in rankings and following, they push back on the nudity and sex scenes. They then bring in new young characters to fill the nudity quotient but they aren’t lead characters and as such there just isn’t as much nudity. That is certainly the best explanation for me with a large number of the series. So I don’t see it as a early season/late season dichotomy but rather as a 1st season/later seasons kind of thing. The L Word is a perfect example where the nudity of main characters plummets but new characters can only keep their clothes on for a single scene before changing into their birthday suits.
It’s not *watching *it that’s unclassy, per se.
It’s that the classy way to watch porn is in private, and in deep shame.
Your living room is “in public” now?
I … I don’t quite know what to do with this statement. No penis + no vagina + moaning and kissing = porn?
I’m not sure why everyone is feeling the need to be pedantic about vocabulary. It is “in public” inasmuch as it is not “in private.” Multiple people, none of whom are family, share access to the living room. It’s not public like the town square, but it’s not private.
Yes. In my opinion. An audio recording could be pornographic. As could video without shots of a penis. If it’s so baffling, you could at least explain what you think porn is, instead of just being dumbfounded at how ridiculous you seem to think I am.
And again, it’s getting into pedantry about the finer points of the definition of words, which is a little beside the original feeling I was trying to express, which was:
But, if you want to talk about what makes something porn, I’ll just say that what I saw in episodes of both of those shows qualifies as porn according to Merriam Webster, and, a bit more debatably, Dictionary.com.
Look, I’m trying to be lighthearted about this mainly unimportant topic, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t insult me by putting words in my mouth.
There is nothing shameful or wrong with porn. In my opinion. Other people, with whom I am not intimate, watching porn in front of me makes me feel uncomfortable. If I were watching porn, I wouldn’t want other people watching me; certainly I would not just put it on in the ‘public’ living room and not think twice. It’s kind of rude.
And, to me, these feel like porn.
As was stated above, I doubt that these scenes were included in the programming “with the intent of causing sexual excitement,” meaning actual sexual arousal. Maybe it’s different for you, but I don’t think most people who watch this material get physically aroused by this kind of material in drama or comedy.
Yes, maybe sexual content draws interest from the audience, but material intended to cause arousal is much more explicit in showing the mechanics of sexual behavior, not just the miming of a sex scene in the context of a fictional work.
There is such thing as “soft core porn,” by the way, which was a little more coy about showing erect penises and open vaginas, which I don’t see as much any more, probably because hard core porn is so readily available. I wouldn’t say that anything in Rome constitutes even soft core porn.
Gratuitous and explicit sex and violence was the story:
Alright, alright - I was just saying that what you’re talking about sounds more like “erotica” than “porn.” Tomayto, tomahto, I suppose.
So the proper way to watch porn is with your family?
What are they there for, then? Is there some expectation that unless a man or woman is watching a penis and vagina, that something can’t be designed to arouse?
One or two of these scenes are silly, most of them are straight up erotic.
To quote comments on this video:
Of course those are in there to turn people on. You could easily be much less explicit than they are while still keeping the relationships/story the same. ‘Draw interest.’ Yes, I am interested in erotic sex scenes with naked actors. Not aroused. Just interested. You know, for my research.
I am aware of soft core porn, having grown up in the era before the internet killed it. I think the sex takes up less time per hour taped than soft core porn, and the writing/production is much better, but the depictions of sex are of equal eroticness to soft core porn of yore.
Yes. Of course. Are you trying to be obtuse?
If I were living only with a wife or girlfriend, it would be reasonable for her to think of the living room as private, despite sharing it with me.
It is not reasonable for me to think of the living room as private while living with acquaintances.
Can I clarify any more for you?
Thanks for the correction / clarification. 
Well, maybe the part about your girlfriend being related to you. You might want to date outside your family.
I consider my girlfriend part of my family.
This may have been intended as a joke, but it’s offensive. Dial it back, please, bup. If you have a problem with Eonwe, take it to the Pit.
Thanks,
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Basic cable is no more regulated by the FCC than premium channels like HBO.
In any event, I wouldn’t call any of these shows like True Blood porn by any means, but HBO does show softcore movies in late night slots. Often they are shunted over to the HBOzone channel, but they crop up on regular HBO sometimes as well. That’s not even getting into how much Showtime and Skinemax show.
They even once aired a documentary on Deep Throat that included hardcore footage of the title act, completely uncensored.
So yes, there is porn on TV, but what the topic creator is speaking of ain’t it. Sure, there’s nudity a’plenty but True Blood is a show about vampires, and sometimes vampires have sex, but even though it’s a part of the show it’s a fairly small percentage. Compare to the actual softcore porns they show where it’s all just a bunch of bad (like really bad) acting used as an excuse to string together a bunch of naked people grinding up on each other (without penetration) those are probably at least a good two thirds to 75 percent sex scenes. Often the actors in these also do hardcore films, unlike say, Anna Paquin who also does real big budget movies.