NSFW: R-rated & X-rated Content On Television

[SPLAIN]

Profanity, nudity and references to sex, and whatever else that falls under this category. 

Growing up, we only had so many channels available. The first time we had cable available (70's) it started out with reruns of just a handful of movies. I remember "American Graffitti" being the movie that I first watched on cable. It was also the first time I heard profanity being used. It was weird to me and a bit shocking to hear a cuss word on television. Of course, being only ten years old, it was a big thing.

[TheGongOfDoom]

Are we talking about slip ups where the censors didn't catch some nudity or let a cuss word get on air on network tv?

I grew up outside of DC and there was an independent tv station Channel 20 that for a few years had a Kung-fu theater program on Saturday afternoons. I look in on it every so often. One day the movie was about a black kung fu dude and he had a black chick for a girlfriend. About a 1/3 of the way through the movie there's a scene of the two of them in the bedroom, obviously just having had sex. She's topless the entire time. The scene was about ten minutes long and was just one long exposition, but man her boobies were glorious.

The same station also used to have a late night horror movie on Saturday nights, Creature Feature with Count Gore DevValle. One night they showed Pirahna. The opening scene had this young couple sneaking around this aquarium and of course they decide to go skinny dipping. The chick strips down full frontal for a good minute, then dives in and was of course eaten by the fish.

I've noticed that whenever Beastmaster is on they NEVER cut out the scene where the Beastmaster overpowers Tanya Roberts and tackles her to the ground. I've also noticed that she isn't wearing any underwear in that scene. A good deal of fapping occurred while watching that scene in my youth.

[Joe]

The scene was about ten minutes long and was just one long exposition, but man her boobies were glorious.

Sounds like season 1 of Game of Thrones.

[SPLAIN]

Are we talking about slip ups where the censors didn't catch some nudity or let a cuss word get on air on network tv?

Of course!

LOL at your post.

There was an episode of "Emergency" where a patient needed to be resuscitated by the doctor and nurses. This was when it originally aired.  I saw a breast. I have googled this episode and not found any reference to that scene or the boob that I saw.  The breast was exposed for what seemed like ten seconds. The doctor was doing chest compressions. I know the show was pretty realistic for the times, but I was not prepared to see a breast on the tv screen at the age of 8 years old. I hope there are others that watched that and can verify that I am not the only one who saw that breast.

[TheGongOfDoom]

Just remembered another one. Still in DC, this was the late 1980's I was in high school and watching WRC Channel 4, the NBC affilate. It was the 5 o'clock news hour and their consumer reporter Lea Thompson was doing a story about ob/gyn. They were showing the standard footage of a doctors office then WEY HOO!! all of a sudden there's a shot of a chick with her legs in the stirrups and her snizz on display for EVERYONE to see. It was on the air of a good ten seconds, not a still shot and there wasn't ANY mistake about what I was seeing. Not very fappable however.

[Kromm]

You don't even have to see anything dirty to "enjoy" the existence of these.  Sometimes just the clean trailers provide the fun.

 

For example, the infamous Brady Bunch porn parodies.  SEMI-work-safe--pretty strong language and sex talk but no nudity:

[Kromm]

Note on the above: I originally posted that in its own topic and it looks like it's been moved here.  Please note that I have zero issue with that, but do think it should be explained that I was not saying that these porn parodies AIR "on Television" (as the thread title says), but rather that they are products that go direct to video that are ABOUT television shows (because they're parodies of them).  Just wanted that clarification made, if they're going to be discussed here.  -- Thanks!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This Game of Thones porn parody is funny too. I appreciate the attention to detail! No nudity or sex depicted but some tiny stick figures of sex positions so possibly NSFW.

http://vimeo.com/88909407

Edited April 6, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[SnideAsides]

I've always wondered why America doesn't have a watershed like most other countries. Is it a puritan thing? Here in Australia you can pretty much broadcast what you want after (I think) 9:30, as long as you put a warning before the show and avoid showing hard cocks or actual sex.

[Kromm]

I've always wondered why America doesn't have a watershed like most other countries. Is it a puritan thing? Here in Australia you can pretty much broadcast what you want after (I think) 9:30, as long as you put a warning before the show and avoid showing hard cocks or actual sex.

Of course it's a puritan thing.   But its also largely irrelevant these days, since so much of American TV content comes from the cable networks rather than the broadcast ones.

[Raja]

America once had a voluntary family hour but that died with the acceptance of the VHS recorder and the beginning of time shifting shows 30 years ago. It is amazing there is still enough public pressure to push back when any kid with a phone can get free hard core porn at his leisure.

[SPLAIN]

I still laugh so hard at the Everybody Loves Raymond episode about Marie's sculpture which Ray seemed to think looked like a woman's vulva.

[Shannon L.]

Gosh, I still remember when one f-word meant an R rating and when HBO would only show R-Rated movies after...8pm, I think...maybe 9pm. 

Nowadays, I'm kind of grateful for Netflix streaming and video games, so I don't have to worry about my kids having sleepovers and channel surfing and coming across Skin-a-max.  At least with Netflix, it tells you what's been previously viewed. 

 

I still laugh so hard at the Everybody Loves Raymond episode about Marie's sculpture which Ray seemed to think looked like a woman's vulva.

I don't watch ELR, but it's sounds funny.  I laughed so hard at The Big Bang theory when Sheldon told Penny, during the pilot episode, that earlier that day, he and Leonard considered masturbating for money. 

[TheGongOfDoom]

Couple things about the porn parodies. The level of detail is pretty high as far as making it look like the original show/movie. The other thing is that on the dvd there is usually the option to watch the movie sans the sex scenes and it's not terrible, they actually put some thought into the script and acting.

[Kel Varnsen]

I've always wondered why America doesn't have a watershed like most other countries. Is it a puritan thing? Here in Australia you can pretty much broadcast what you want after (I think) 9:30, as long as you put a warning before the show and avoid showing hard cocks or actual sex.

 

Canada has that too. Back when the show was huge, CTV, one or our major broadcast networks used to play The Sopranos, completely uncut (but with commercials added) in the 10pm timeslot. 

 

The same station also used to have a late night horror movie on Saturday nights, Creature Feature with Count Gore DevValle. One night they showed Pirahna. The opening scene had this young couple sneaking around this aquarium and of course they decide to go skinny dipping. The chick strips down full frontal for a good minute, then dives in and was of course eaten by the fish.

I live in Canada and growing up, where I lived we used to get KVOS-TV out of Bellingham, Washington. I remember at least a few times they used to play the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella, without cutting any of the nudity.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I've always wondered why America doesn't have a watershed like most other countries. Is it a puritan thing? Here in Australia you can pretty much broadcast what you want after (I think) 9:30, as long as you put a warning before the show and avoid showing hard cocks or actual sex.

 

The strange thing is, American television stations edit out the sex and leave in the violence, which is why Saving Private Ryan, with its many scenes of battle-related gore, can air on TNT with at most an advisory note before the film begins. Some of the "rules" about language are relaxing, though, at least for channels like USA. They say 'shit' and 'Goddamn' on Suits all the time, and on a recent episode Louis actually said that he "eats cock for breakfast", and while he didn't mean literal cock, he kept saying the word over and over again, so there seemed to be an implication there.

[Raja]

I have noticed that when many of the cable networks replay their shows the next morning the language is censored.

[selkie]

Basic cable is currently not regulated by the American FCC for profanity like broadcast tv is. The basic cable networks self-censor in order to try to keep it that way, and it sometimes seems pretty clear that Mad Men only gets so many 'Fuck's a season, or that they've got a limit on the number of naked ass shots they can use per episode without going to the blur on Naked and Afraid.

[Kel Varnsen]

Basic cable is currently not regulated by the American FCC for profanity like broadcast tv is. The basic cable networks self-censor in order to try to keep it that way, and it sometimes seems pretty clear that Mad Men only gets so many 'Fuck's a season, or that they've got a limit on the number of naked ass shots they can use per episode without going to the blur on Naked and Afraid.

I always thought that the self-censoring was more to keep the advertisers happy. Although I often wonder, that with the demographic that say Spike tv is going after, allowing some more swearing and nudity might bring in the kind of ratings that they want.

[Kromm]

I noticed some racy stuff on Murder In The First (on TNT) this season.  They had for example a blond in scanty panties sitting in bed on top of a black guy, with a well placed camera shot focused on her ass.  Not that it doesn't ever happen in real life (of course interracial couples abound)--but the shot was set up to look just like a porn movie shot, I think.

[Trini]

Filed under strange censorship:

Last week on Steve Harvey's daytime talk show, Steve wrote WTF (the actual letters 'W', 'T', 'F') on a cue card on camera, but the 'F' was blurred out. Really? I know it's daytime, and occasionally Steve swears and they bleep it out, but this instance there was no reference to what the acronym or the 'F' stood for. He didn't spell out the word.

[GreekGeek]

All in the Family was considered shocking back in the day when characters said "hell" and "damn." It was mostly the men, but there was a hilarious moment when Edith said "Dammit!" in the menopause episode.

 

It was a big shock to me when Hawkeye said "ass" on M*A*S*H. The same show had an early episode when Radar, wrapped only in a towel, dashes across the compound to escape gunfire. As he reaches the tent, he drops the towel just before ducking inside and there's a very, very short glimpse of his backside.

[Demented Daisy]

I wish I could remember what show it was -- it might have been on Comedy Central -- but a few years ago, I was watching a show with puppets.  Not Muppets, puppets.  Maybe sock puppets.  

 

Anyway, one of the puppets was telling a story and it cut to a flashback to a sex scene.  I laughed so hard, but then I realized that if it had been humans, it would have been practically porn.  But because it was puppets, they got away with it.

 

Dammit, I wish I could remember what show that was!  I have no interest in Googling "sock puppet sex".  *shudder*

[Raja]

Filed under strange censorship:

Last week on Steve Harvey's daytime talk show, Steve wrote WTF (the actual letters 'W', 'T', 'F') on a cue card on camera, but the 'F' was blurred out. Really? I know it's daytime, and occasionally Steve swears and they bleep it out, but this instance there was no reference to what the acronym or the 'F' stood for. He didn't spell out the word.

Maybe that's why on NCIS New Orleans "FNG" of Vietnam era became "NFG" but then in the show the definition was given with multiple characters giving a different word for the F.

[BetterButter]

 

I wish I could remember what show it was -- it might have been on Comedy Central -- but a few years ago, I was watching a show with puppets.  Not Muppets, puppets.  Maybe sock puppets.

Crank Yankers?

[Demented Daisy]

Possible.  Still afraid to Google it, though.  ;-)

[DearEvette]

I wish I could remember what show it was -- it might have been on Comedy Central -- but a few years ago, I was watching a show with puppets.  Not Muppets, puppets.  Maybe sock puppets.  

 

Anyway, one of the puppets was telling a story and it cut to a flashback to a sex scene.  I laughed so hard, but then I realized that if it had been humans, it would have been practically porn.  But because it was puppets, they got away with it.

 

Dammit, I wish I could remember what show that was!  I have no interest in Googling "sock puppet sex".  *shudder*

 

I wonder if that is why Archer gets away with as much as it does?  I mean, it is really risque.  They've always been frank about nudity and the sexual escapades of the characters on the show, but even it pushes the envelope. There is a running gag that Cheryl really gets her sexual rocks off by being hit or choked.  And they really show it explicitly with bruises and stuff and her gasping for air but she super enjoying herself.  And also last season they showed Lana and Archer doing it doggy style with her boobs' swinging, very 'liquid' sound effects and even some suggestion of anal. 

Edited September 28, 2015 by DearEvette

[Rinaldo]

One of my favorite examples of "selective" censorship was on the Tony award telecast about a decade ago, when a song from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was performed. Norbert Leo Butz was singing a crude song about all the things he'd do if he had money. One of the lines was "get a hummer in my Hummer." The first uttering of "hummer" was bleeped out (because it referred to oral sex) but the second wasn't (because it meant a vehicle). Identical phonemes, of course.

[meep.meep]

It makes me feel so old to remember how controversial it was for NYPD Blue to show some guy's naked back side.

The only thing that I notice is still *always* censored on TV is Madeline Kahn's song from Blazing Saddles, where she sings about how the guys she's with are always "coming and going and going and coming, and always too soon." What they cut is the "always too soon" part.  Because it's OK for her to have sex with "hundreds of men, again and again" but not OK if we found out she wanted to get any sexual gratification from it.

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, meep.meep said:

It makes me feel so old to remember how controversial it was for NYPD Blue to show some guy's naked back side.

Wouldn't that still be highly unusual on any of the three major networks? I can't think of any of their shows that does that. The thing is, now we have so many other ways to view series, and they aren't subject to the same restrictions.

[SmithW6079]

4 hours ago, meep.meep said:

It makes me feel so old to remember how controversial it was for NYPD Blue to show some guy's naked back side.

But we got to see John Wesley Shipp's naked backside, so it was worth the controversy. 

[RealHousewife]

I guess the first risqué show I watched is Sex & the City. Definitely not a family show, but I loved it and even relate to it somewhat now that I’m older.

Girls Next Door was also a guilty pleasure of mine, and there constant bare boobs and even full nudity on that show, especially the uncensored version. I ordered the DVD’s, and they didn’t censor anything! It shocked me at first, maybe because other then SATC, I don’t think any of my favorite shows feature nudity-most of them are rated no higher than TV14. 

Speaking of GND, I really didn’t think I’d become a fan of the show. I thought the whole situation with Hef and the girls was weird, and I think initially people thought it was going to be geared towards men due to Playboy, but I think the lightheartedness and glamorous lifestyle are what made it a hit show. Many women including myself enjoyed it like watching Real Housewives. All these beautiful girls having fun parties, cool events, going to the salon, traveling, having a butler, who lives like that? It was like Real Housewives with less drama and less clothes. Lol 

[bmasters9]

Recently I got the all-in-one of 1st & Ten (that 1984-91 HBO football comedy w/Delta Burke, et al.), and I discovered through reviews online that the first half of the show as presented on the release did not contain the nudity that the show was known for, but the second half did. Is that true?

[Fukui San]

4 hours ago, bmasters9 said:

Recently I got the all-in-one of 1st & Ten (that 1984-91 HBO football comedy w/Delta Burke, et al.), and I discovered through reviews online that the first half of the show as presented on the release did not contain the nudity that the show was known for, but the second half did. Is that true?

I remember watching this wonderful, terrible show. Ah the comedy stylings of OJ Simpson.

It was so long ago I don't remember when there was nudity or not.

I'm shocked it lasted as long as it did.

[Rinaldo]

3 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

I'm shocked it lasted as long as it did.

Well, it was HBO's only original fictional series at that time, wasn't it?

Being a gay guy with his first full-time job & first cable subscription at that time, I was looking out for male nudity (the female variety seemed to be all around), figuring the locker room and team shower were likely environments for a show said to be "daring" in this way. But the only instance I can recall was of "sidal" male nudity that lasted a second. (I gave up on later seasons so I may have missed another fleeting instance. As for female nudity, I'm not the one to notice the nuances.

[bmasters9]

Very informative responses-- thanks!

One other thing that may/may not be related (and may be useless trivia): why, being that this show came from a time when business women wore hose (one being Bears owner Diane Barrow [Delta Burke]), did the cover of the all-in-one DVD have a bare leg in a high heel?

[HighMaintenance]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Well, it was HBO's only original fictional series at that time, wasn't it?

Being a gay guy with his first full-time job & first cable subscription at that time, I was looking out for male nudity (the female variety seemed to be all around), figuring the locker room and team shower were likely environments for a show said to be "daring" in this way. But the only instance I can recall was of "sidal" male nudity that lasted a second. (I gave up on later seasons so I may have missed another fleeting instance. As for female nudity, I'm not the one to notice the nuances.

Ah, yes.  The old side cheek.

I do recall on ABC back in the mid-70's, Rich Man Poor Man (I and II) were shown and there was a scene where Peter Strauss' character shows his bare butt for all of 5 seconds.  Pretty blase stuff these days, but this occurred in 1977ish.

I recall the bare butt NYPD Blue male nudity controversy.  This was around 1994 and said nudity was Dennis Franz (Det. Andy Sipowicz) who was a less than hunky over 50 schlub.

[proserpina65]

The first non-cable nudity I remember ever seeing was in I Claudius on PBS.  Topless serving girls at a feast.  Fairly tame now, but quite the scandal then.  Never mind the scenes with Caligula and his sister.

[GreekGeek]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

 Never mind the scenes with Caligula and his sister.

I think there must have been two versions of that last scene in "Zeus, by Jove!" In one, Claudius opens the temple door and immediately rushes off with a horrified look on his face. In the other, Caligula comes out with blood all over his face and says to Claudius, "Don't go in there!" But you had to know your Greek mythology and the reason for the talk about Zeus and his father Cronos to grasp the real horror. Spoiler tagged just in case.

Spoiler

Caligula ate his unborn baby.

[kassygreene]

I remember the original broadcast in the States, and ye gods the screams!  I actually covered my head with an afghan because I was sure we were going to see into the room with Claudius. 

Fortunately for my ability to sleep, we didn't see inside the room.  IMDB informs me that:

Spoiler

Quote

During the scene where Caligula cuts the unborn baby from Drusilla's womb a brief shot was filmed showing the bloody fetus. The episode had already been re-edited twice before, and a third time on the day it was to go out. The shot was still included in the initial BBC showing on the 8th and the rerun two days later, but edited out of the master copy afterwards. Therefore, once the studio tapes with the raw footage had been wiped, the shot was lost: The BBC no longer had a copy of it (although it's possible someone recorded the original cut of the episode at home on one the two occasions it aired in November 1976). From 1977 onwards, all repeats and releases showed only Claudius looking, and the footage of what he saw was no longer there.

Edited May 16, 2019 by kassygreene

[proserpina65]

I was referring more to the incest, which would've been quite shocking at the time, but yeah, the implications of the final scene were pretty awful.

And of course, that was after the scene where someone suggests raping a child (Sejanus' daughter, I believe)because it's bad form to murder a virgin.

Edited May 16, 2019 by proserpina65