Talk:Nudity in American television

Canadian Reaction
The line in the Super Bowl subsection regarding the limited reaction of Canadians to the incident does not seem relevant to me, unless the "American" in the title refers to the continents, in which case the article should be expanded. 74.192.23.23 (talk) 12:53, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Schindler's List - Smallville
The section mentioning Smallville is incorrect. New episodes of the show have aired either Tuesday's at 9PM or Wednesday at 8PM. The episode in question did not air after 10PM as the article asserts, so I'm removing that line from the article. ______________ Regarding "Schindler's List", the comment that "Many Christian groups opposed the airing" is an overgeneralization. Listing actual Christian groups that opposed the broadcast would be preferable. I have not made any changes to the entry. -Matthew McMahon

Lack of content
Documentation of some of this is going to be very difficult. Especially in the caes of documenting cases of nudity appearing on independant stations like KTLA and KTVU during the 80's. I can only vouch for my own personal eyewitness experience that a couple TV stations in the SF Bay Area did in fact show unedited movies during the 80's. I did NOT have cable during the 80's and can vouch 100% that this occurred over broadcast television. I think it is important to keep this info in the article, but I do wish there was some solid verification of this. If anyone has solid documentation, it would be very helpful. Konky2000 21:53, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Monty Python's Flying Circus
The 1960s BBC sketch comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus has been shown on US public television stations. As those who have seen the show may remember the show often showed the naked backside of Terry Jones playing a piano.


 * And lots of breasts, too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 03:47, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I think the nudity in episode 2 of 'Hark at Barker' might predate Monty Python in Britain. The Goodies also had a bit of nudity at the beginning. Don't know if these were shown in the U.S.Dongord (talk) 11:43, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Shaku Zulu
Shaka Zulu (1986) a mini-series about the life of the king of the Zulu nation from 1816 to 1828 was shown on America television in syndication in 1987. It was criticized for nudity - most of the women characters were bare-breasted and the male costumes often consisted of elaborate headdresses and leggings and little else. This was before the age of Electronically Blurring Technology and so the nudity was actually shown over the air without alteration.

M*A*S*H
In the episode, 'the sniper', radar's towel falls off once and flies up a second time. Could someone please put that in? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.107.210.24 (talk • contribs) JHVipond 05:45, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

This page is for actual nudity in American television. Was actual nudity shown in that scene or was it blocked in some way?

ABC -TV "War and Remembrance" (1988) (mini) TV Series (from IMDb)
In the above made-for-TV miniseries, a sequel to "The Winds of War" based on the novels, there were shots of male nudity and full frontal female nudity as groups of Jews were marched indoors in Holocaust scenes. I read that the actors and actresses were nudists in real life, so being naked was no big deal to them. 209.26.250.130 18:21, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

HBO + Showtime
I think the entries for the premium channels should be removed. HBO and Showtime have allowed nudity ever since they started, so I don't see what makes Oz, Gia or Queer as Folk any more significant than The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Entourage, Six Feet Under, or any of dozens of other shows featured on these two networks which had nudity in them. Not to mention the fact that both networks have frequently played R-rated movies containing nudity without editing them out even before they started producing their own shows. When networks like FX or Spike TV (which are typically on basic cable) show nudity, it's significant, but premium channels have always been more open about this sort of thing, so it's not notable. Lurlock 14:33, 29 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that there is no reason to put HBO and Showtime shows in the timeline of nudity.

South Park
Comedy Channel isn't network television but it does come on basic cable in many areas. But still should South Park nudity be counted? I am not sure.

Discovery Related Documentary Channels Recently
On the page it says that the Discovery channel and other documentary-related channels may show nudity in a journalistic context, such as that of indigenous people. Are there any recent examples of that? Pixalization (is that a real word) has seemed to have even done away with that kind of nudity on television with programs now choosing to cover up the nudity through electronic means such as to blur out a woman's nipple for example. So, while they do have shows about naked indigenous people still those programs use pixilization to cover up their nudity.

Electronically Blurring Technology
Now with the advent of Electronically Blurring Technology lots of the documentaries that in decades past would have shown naked parts now use this technology to blur those parts. Therefore it is very rare to see even documentaries on America Television today that have nudity unless of course they are on HBO or Showtime.

Shows that show "nudity" that is shielded through the use of Electronically Blurring Technology shouldn't be included but so far I don't see any that has been.


 * Blurring isn't necessarily "new". In the late 80's one of the TV stations in the San Francisco Bay Area blurred out the nudity in movies. I remember once seeing Re-Animator in which the nudity was blurred out for the broadcast. This was sometime between 1987-1990. 68.124.183.229 01:13, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

earliest nudity
I've read (no original source material available) that Faye Emerson (talk show hostess) was the first TV nudity - a split-second wardrobe malfunction in 1950. The same source had named Roots (the miniseries) as the first intentional TV nudity in 1977. Anyone know of a reliable source to back these claims? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kea2 (talk • contribs) 19:46, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Steambath on PBS dates from 1973. In the UK, there were things like Ken Russell's Isadora Duncan biopic from 1965.  I tried to add more examples, but keep getting shot down.  For sources maybe one could go through old newpapers or tv guides, or maybe articles/books on particular directors. Dongord (talk) 11:38, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Eh... not sure this is really true
In the current climate, nudity is almost unknown on any broadcast television show - with the exception being animated series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy (which spoofed the conservative phase of American television in the episode "PTV"). Find just about any interview with the creators of those shows, and you'll find them talking about how they've had to 'clean things up'. (well, not any interview, but you won't have a hard time finding them addressing this) The easiest examples of this are Groening talking about what they were able to get away with in the Simpsons movie, the relaxed censorship when doing the Futurama movies for Cartoon Network, and a very particular episode of Family Guy. In the CN (and canadian, etc) version, they have no problem depicting Lois and Peter naked after smoking marijuana. On the other hand, in the Fox version, they felt compelled to add in underpants. Granted, old episodes continue to be broadcasted (sometimes censored, sometimes not, depending on the station), but it's certainly affected what they feel like they can get away with for new episodes. 139.57.100.104 (talk) 00:53, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thing is, Family Guy never actually shows nudity. It implies it. Is obscured/covered nudity counted as nudity now? Because that would explain the question that brought me to this page: that being that "FX channel shows nudity" except that they don't. Their disclaimers (on Archer, It's Always Sunny, etc) will warn that they will, then none actually appears.. unless covered-up nudity counts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 03:49, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Is anyone aware of any socieological investigation into why there is a "moral panic" in America about nudity on TV, when pornography is now mainstream in the cinema, TV characters are engaged in frequent promiscuous sex, and the American public is more over-sexed and sexually active than ever. And when this moral panic is not seen elsewhere.124.197.15.138 (talk) 05:41, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

FCC Asks Supreme Court For Power To Levy Indecency Fines
Deadline's Nikki Finke: In Winter 2011, a federal appeals court overturned a $1.2 million fine against ABC affiliates for showing an episode of NYPD Blue that featured a quick shot of a woman's bare buttocks. A previous 2nd Circuit ruling called the FCC's rules on indecency "unconstitutionally vague." The Parents Television Council praised the FCC appeal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.49.246.237 (talk) 00:12, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

ER|Noah Wyle|Butt
A Patch of Blue By Kristen Baldwin | Oct 25, 1996: NYPD Blue no longer has a lock on next year's Emmy for Best Butt Shot. In a sneeze-and-you-missed-it scene on the Oct. 10 episode, ER's resident doll Noah Wyle bared his assets when a fellow resident (Omar Epps) injected Dr. Carter with a drug to settle his nausea. It was meant to be a gag around my getting the shot and hiding the needle from Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle), says Wyle, who was originally supposed to take it in the arm. But the gag never worked, so what you were left with was me getting a shot in my butt. Though a spokesman from the show declined to comment (and NBC logged no complaints), Wyle says the rear-revealing decision was entirely ''spur- of-the-moment. I was inspired to be daring — but I didn't realize how far I'd pulled my pants down.'' In our opinion, not far enough. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.148.31.196 (talk) 08:47, 16 July 2013 (UTC)