Nudity in American television

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Nudity on American network television has traditionally been a charged topic. Nudity has gained wider acceptance in European television. In contrast to their American counterparts, viewers in Europe perceive nudity and sexuality as less objectionable than the depiction of violence.

In the early days of American television, PBS was the only network to feature mild nudity on its documentaries and films. But starting in the 1990s, some prime-time series (such as ABC's NYPD Blue, CBS's Chicago Hope and FOX's John Doe) featured some mild and relatively inoffensive nude scenes.

After Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's breast during a performance at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show seen by over 40 million American families, it incited a moral panic, and the Federal Communications Commission tightened its indecency rules due to public pressure. While Americans wrote thousands of letters to the FCC, only fifty Canadians [1] complained about the incident to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Nudity thus disappeared from most prime-time shows on broadcast television, except for some late-night documentaries or news programs in which the nudity was presented in a "natural" or spontaneous context; e.g., a report about the indigenous peoples of the Americas, breastfeeding or breast cancer.

In contrast to broadcast television, cable is not bound by FCC rules. Cable channels can air shows with whatever material their executives think is suitable. Nudity and sex are shown at differing levels (at least as far as full-frontal nude scenes are concerned). Showtime, HBO and, more recently, FX are among the most polemic cable channels at present. Discovery and other documentary-related channels may show nudity in a "natural" context, such as that of indigenous people.

It can also be noted that, while nudity practically disappeared from network television, a Kaiser Family Foundation study of sex on television released in November of 2005 proved that TV characters are having sex twice as often as they were in 1998. The study examined more than 1,000 hours of programming.

Nudity Portal

Family Guy spoofed this whole conservative phase of the American network television in the polemic Emmy Award-nominated episode PTV, aired November 6, 2005. While the characters sung the "FCC Song", scenes of them nude were shown.

[edit] Chronology

Robert Opel streaking at the 46th Academy Awards ceremony.

1973: PBS aired Steambath on the night of May 4 as part of the Hollywood Television Theater series. On this made-for-TV movie, actress Valerie Perrine exposed her breasts in a shower scene. Only a few PBS stations carried the film.

1974: While NBC was doing the live broadcast of the 46th Academy Awards ceremony, a man named Robert Opel streaked naked across the stage. NBC cameramen reacted quickly enough to avoid broadcasting full-frontal nudity.

1977: ABC aired the famous miniseries Roots. The show, which told the saga of African slaves in the Southern United States, featured some scenes in which a large number of African-American women were seen topless. This choice was made by the producers to add historical reality to the show.

1980: CBS aired the made-for-TV movie Gauguin, The Savage starring David Carradine as the French painter Paul Gauguin. Three scenes of full-frontal female nudity were shown during the original telecast.

1983: NBC aired the Steven Bochco baseball drama Bay City Blues. The series was the first to show male actors nude in a locker room scene.

1993: The first episode of Steven Bochco's NYPD Blue aired on ABC. On that episode, Amy Brenneman exposed her buttocks. The actors who have done nude scenes for the show (during its more than 12 seasons) include David Caruso, Kim Delaney, Dennis Franz, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Melina Kanakaredes, Sharon Lawrence, Charlotte Ross, Rick Schroder, John Wesley Shipp, Henry Simmons, Jimmy Smits, and Sherry Stringfield, among others.

1994: Actress Meredith Baxter exposed her breast on the CBS made-for-TV movie My Breast, in a scene with her doctor examining her for breast cancer. The scene was not considered indecent due to its portrayal of nudity in a medical context. The movie carried a parental advisory disclaimer when it first aired, to which Baxter openly objected ^{[citation needed]}.

1996: PBS aired ITV's Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders starring British actress Alex Kingston (ER). The actress showed her breasts in some love scenes.

1996: an episode of David E. Kelley's medical drama Chicago Hope broke a major network TV taboo by showing the breasts of a teenage girl after her character undergoes successful reconstructive surgery. The scene, like Meredith Baxter's, wasn't considered indecent due to the medical context of the scene. Note that Kelley's show was also the first to use the word "shit" on a network TV series.

1997: Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was broadcast on NBC on the night of February 23 sponsored by Ford Motor Company. Per Spielberg's insistence, the network aired the unedited/uncensored version of his film. The telecast was the first ever to receive a TV-MA rating under the TV Parental Guidelines that had been established at the beginning of that year. Many Christian groups objected to the film being shown on network television, due to strong scenes of nudity, violence, and the use of vulgar language which weren't edited out for TV airing.

2000-2005: The US version of Queer as Folk, shown on Showtime, was known for its many instances of nude men and women, starting with a long scene in the first episode depicting a sexual encounter between the characters Brian and Justin.

2001: CBS aired an episode of its hit series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled "Slaves of Las Vegas" on November 15. The breasts and buttocks of a female corpse are seen on an examination table. A camera shot zooms in through the victim's nipple to focus on her breast implant. The episode carried a viewer discretion advisory, though it was likely more for the episode's strong sexual content than for nudity.

2002: FOX aired the first episode of John Doe. On the series, Dominic Purcell played the role of a man who woke up naked on the middle of an island, and did not know who he was. Trying to leave the island, he fell into the sea, exposing his buttocks. The scene was repeated in the opening titles for the rest of the series' run.

2003 Naked Beach Frenzy is a episode of the Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon. This episode was never aired on Spike TV on American television but is on the Lost Episodes DVD with 2 others. On the commentary, John K specifically asked Spike TV if he could show the nipples for which they replied "Sure! It's a MAN'S network" so they did. John K also said that the advertisers "freaked out" which is more likely responisible for the episode being pulled from air, not the nipples. John K blames Janet Jackson for this due to her infamous Super Bowl halftime show.

2004: CBS aired Super Bowl XXXVIII. During the halftime show, singer Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's breast in what would later be deemed a "wardrobe malfunction". As a result of this incident, some episodes of America's top drama shows such as E.R., NYPD Blue and Without a Trace had to be re-edited before airing. (See Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy).

2004: The WB aired the first episode of the fourth season of their hit show Smallville. On this episode, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) returns to Smallville re-programmed as Kal-El. Lois Lane (Erica Durance) finds him naked in a cornfield and takes him to the local hospital. When they get there, Clark drops the towel Lois gave him, exposing the upper part of his buttocks.

2004: ABC premiered their new hit show Desperate Housewives. During the second episode, gardener John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe) is seen partially (but not explicitly) with his rear naked. Just like Smallville's partial nudity, this was not considered offensive and got past the network censors.

2005: Comedy Central premiered the ninth season of South Park. Live action highlights can be seen during Mr. Garrison's sex change operation. These highlights are actually that of an animal being neutered. This was shown completly uncut in America. Even though they did show full frontal nudity of a male's penis and testicle completly uncensored, even when children could still be watching television at 10:00 PM. They even included showing the mans penis and testicles being cut open and torn apart, yet Comedy Central recieved no complaints from this.