Monday, May 19, 2008

Nudity on TV

Todd Mason has a list.

13 comments:

Randy Johnson said...

David Carradine starred as Paul Gauguin in a biopic in the early eighties that used topless models during the painting sequences. It was a network film as best I could remember. Gauguin The Savage was the title I think.

Benjie said...

Interesting that the list is heavy in the PBS arena. I find that they are much more apt to flash flesh in the name of art. And also much less likely to be attacked for the incidence than other broadcasters (such as the flap that emerged over NBC's NYPD Blue).

Todd Mason said...

Well, Benjie, until the current administration's FCC, all the networks could do nudity to some extent at least, but the commercial networks were more likely, as you suggest, to get someone mad enough at them to try to pressure the advertisers...the relatively small (and arguably sophisticated) audiences for PBS and other public broadcasting and the fact of less advertiser, I mean "underwriter," identification with any given episode meant that there was less likelihood that they'd get a targeted boycott...as opposed to generalized condemnation. The current Bush Admin FCC has been pretty nasty, however, about anything that might offend the sensibilities of anyone who believes no one should ever curse or disrobe in drama or documentaries.

Missed that one, Randy.

Doc Quatermass said...

...the relatively small (and arguably sophisticated) audiences for PBS and other public broadcasting and the fact of less advertiser, I mean "underwriter," identification with any given episode meant that there was less likelihood that they'd get a targeted boycott...

Amen, Todd. Plus Valerie Perrine naked... good. Who in their right mind would want to see Dennis Franz's backside? PBS has their protesters in the less, er... "sophisticated" conservatives & bible thumpers, but I think the underwriters are less likely to bow to pressure as it is more "artistic" rather than to inflame controversy and get people to watch.


"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans... ...unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing." - Karl Rove, Bush's long-time political guru and White House advisor.

Brent McKee said...

And I can't help but note that in Canada most if not all of the examples that Todd mentions - as well as the Charlotte Ross NYPD Blue scene could be shown on Canadian TV at any time of the day. So long as there isn't a "sexual context" to the nudity, it can air at any time of the day. You Americans have elevated prudery to a level that the rest of the western world finds amazing.

Doc Quatermass said...

Aesthetic nudity relevant to a story seems far better as far as not having a negative impact on society than the outlandish sexual content of many soap operas, sitcoms and modern hour dramas (largely prime time soaps) - not to mention the wise ass kids who are more on the ball than most parents in sitcoms.

> You Americans have elevated
> prudery to a level that the rest > of the western world finds
> amazing.

And other than the Avro Arrow and a cheap place to film movies and TV shows what has Canada been known for? Just kidding.

http://www.avro-arrow.org/

Understandable to some degree, but a knowledge of American history esp the tapestry of social history, the influence of Puritan religion, and the rise of popular culture and the progression of entertainment mediums via new technology is needed to understand why this is so and few foreigners are versed enough in it to grasp this. America is unlike any other country on this planet and many other countries rush to imitate us in many spheres.

Todd Mason said...

Our nation's ridiculous puritanism is pretty foolish to many, albeit there are more puritan cultures...just not so much among the "industrialized" world. China and India probably closest. Singapore, certainly.

Particularly when one considers our fine innovation, our First Amendment.

Todd Mason said...

And, of course, today's Supreme Court decision might well make LOLITA, PRETTY BABY and THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, possibly PRIME CUT as well, actionable as kiddie porn. To say nothing of the ROMEO AND JULIET with Olivia Hussey, and arguably other R&Js.

No one worth tolerating is going to speak in defense of real child rape, but this is unfortunate, since it will be abused. I hope, the apparent narrowing of the law to target actual or purported actual documentation of at least statuatory rape will actually be observed in practice. I doubt my hope will be fulfilled.

Doc Quatermass said...

I've been in love with Jody Foster since we were both kids. Connie Foster, her older sister did the body double nude scene work for her in # The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) as well as Taxi Driver (1976) since Jody was only 14. I was in awe that Encore Mystery and TCM showed the undressing scene.

LOLITA. The 1962 version with
James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) and Peter Sellers is a great film on all levels, especially visually. I've yet to see the 1997 remake.

I haven't seen the decision by the "nine scorpions in a bottle" yet, I don't think it would hurt for some things to be ratcheted back a bit in out society but the Dems won't do it and the Republicans under the influence of the mostly brain dead Fundy's and Neo Con's, will go too far.

*****

We live in a society of laws. Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn't hear anybody laughin', did you? -- Homer J. Simpson

Todd Mason said...

Well, Doc, I might agree if actual child porn hadn't been illegal for quite some time...if anything, the straight-ahead porn industry and the larger pop-culture both are more sensitive to such matters than they used to be, VANITY FAIR notwithstanding (in fact, the fuss over the VF shoot kind of suggests the growing sensitivity). This does not bode well as a particularly useful decision.

Doc Quatermass said...

Todd,

If you don't mind, post a good news story or analysis on the vote for me. I'm backed on on internet stuff right now. Our daughter is flying in from Boston tomorrow night to Pittsburgh before heading back to Orlando. She's at some design workshop after finishing her first year of a three year grad program and it would cost as much to fly here and then back to Florida in a week as it would to fly directly back to Orlando from Boston. I haven't seen her since her graduation last May and am looking forward to her visit. Unfortunately we were given a suite of bedroom furniture for our bedroom and to make room for the old stuff we had to move boxes of collectibles and VHS tapes into her old bedroom out of the spare bedroom and our bedroom. Her room is filled with boxes, including on the bed. Wifey bought nickel plated shelves and moved the magazines boxes that covered the old dresser and one of the chest of drawers along the wall on in the dining room (I need to reorganize them and update my have/need lists anyway. Books, magazines and VHS tapes and DVDs clutter most every room in the house so I'm trying to establish some temporary order to the entropy 'til we have time to winnow and cull the wheat from the chaff It's amazing some of the crap wifey stuck in boxes to get out of the way - we're finding TV Guides from the early 90s before I didn't renew, Entertainment Weeklys, Diamond Previews from around the turn of the century (he he he), Toyfare, Anime Insider, all kinds of things I forgot I had or could lay my hands on. Wifeys been shredding boxes of old bills and invoices. Hopefully this summer we'll get through boxes of articles on various subjects I culled from tons of magazines some years ago and scan them onto the computer. Also go through comics and collectibles figure out what I want to sell on ebay. I came across some Spawn figure a week ago that it just dawned on me a friend must have given me. (I wonder how much I'd get on ebay for the 8 or so Leonardo cover story mags I bought for my daughter when Titanic came out?)

Briefly on the topic I found it interesting that watching a documentary on comic book history on the History Channel today (anyone else think Stan Lee sounds like Gilbert Gottfried?) they blacked out the shit in bullshit on a comic page they showed; but a few weekends ago when we stayed with a 83 year old friend when her daughter and son-in-law went to Chi Town for the weekend to babysit the new grandson (the mom was staying with them as a fire in her apartment building killed a man and caused everyone to be moved out temporarily) and Jeanette (who gave us the suite of furniture as she moved to a new one bedroom apartment house from her old two bedroom one) liked to flip around a lot (saw a lot of TV I normally don't watch including a lot of news shows, one which talked about the Miley (sp) Cyrus flap over her doing a sexy photo shoot at 14 with on set footage of the shoot. Jeanette didn't understand what the big deal was. I explained that she was a underage and idol to impressionable young girls who might have parents as stupid as Billy Ray.

Interesting that shit can be said but not shown in print and an underage girl in sexy lingerie can be shown on a entertainment news show but would probably be kiboshed by network standards and practice people.

Oh, memory flash. Back in the late 80s/early 90s A&E showed Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit which in addition to showing the lesbian lovers in bed showed nudity. Also, AMC showed a British period movie the title of which escapes my memory from, I believe, the early '70s about a school teacher who poses nude for an artist in his loft. A very beautiful brunette had the lead. Last fall I saw Race With The Devil (which I saw at the Drive In when it originally came out in the '70s) on Encore Mystery and again on Fox Movie Channel, it seemed that the EM version had the devil sacrifice nudity footage blurred out a bit more than was in the original film where as FMC didn't.

Doc Quatermass said...

> If you don't mind, post a good news > story or analysis on the vote for
> me.

I meant a link for, not the story itself.

Todd Mason said...

When I see one, I'll try to pass it along.