On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 6:33 AM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 7:59 AM, Adam Bowie <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Ironically, I wonder if channels like HBO and Showtime feel they have to > > sprinkle lots of nudity into their shows as a reaction to the generally > > prudish nature of network television as a result of the FCC's rules? It's > > now quite noticeable that there will be nudity in the first episode of > just > > about any series that comes from these networks, to point out to viewers > the > > difference. Sprinkle some "ripe" language and some in your face nudity, > and > > we know for certain that we're watching an HBO/Showtime/Starz show. > > The only one of these series I watched was the first season of Rome > and 90% of the nudity and explicit violence was in the first episode. > I think part of it is to relay to the viewer "We're not in kiddie-land > any more" and part of it is to juice DVD and overseas sales. > After staying away from it all these years for a number of reasons, I have been plowing through SG-1 the last month. I had seen the original film, but really knew very little about the series. I did remember that it was shown years ago on the local Fox affiliate, so I was really shocked when, pretty much without warning about half way through the pilot episode there were a few scenes of female upper body nudity. That really was a banner announcing that somehow, I was not watching a typical broadcast show, and sparked a little surfing on my part (only a little, as I am trying to avoid spoilers) and found that it was originally on Showtime (with episodes later syndicated on Fox) before moving to SciFi. I don't know if it was because of the Fox deal, but so far no more nudity as popped up at all (I am at the beginning of season 5, so I guess I am going to get to the Sci Fi switchover pretty soon, after which I suspect nudity will not be possible). In this case, I think the restraint has helped the show (I would be interested to see if the original producers had argued for more nudity and were denied). I would not place Stargate in the upper levels of quality cable programming addressed in this thread, but on its own terms, I think it would have been a lesser show if it had given itself the full "Game of Thrones" treatment (one of the things I like about the show is the way they treat the Carter character, which I think would have been ruined if we got a load of her rack every third or fourth episode; the main alternative source of female nudity would have been to turn the show into the alien stripper/slut of the week, which would not have been good either). I have more problems with the US military propaganda aspects of this show, but that is a different thread. Again, I am not going to endorse the general "fewer breasts please" request of McNamara, but I do think HBO should remind itself that less is more. We can always flip over a few channels to Cinemax if we just want to see naked breasts. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
