While nudity on broadcast television has typically been limited to the fleeting, subliminally corrupting shot intended to speed our descent into moral turpitude, that recent ruling on a years-old episode of NYPD Blue has, in the words of the Parents Television Council, served to “embolden the networks to air even more graphic material.” And while many dismissed that as some rare hyperbolic hand-wringing from a normally reasonable organization, it looks as though the sky may indeed be falling, thus revealing a pert pair of nipples: Variety reports that cast members on the upcoming, Amber Heard-starring NBC pilot Playboy have been asked to sign a nudity clause similar to the ones for pay cable fare, but “virtually unheard of in broadcast.”
Which makes sense, considering the period drama is set within the swanky confines of the Playboy Club in the ’60s, that free-love era when friends said “hello” with a handjob, but it’s still something of a surprise for a primetime show. Still, you probably shouldn’t set your watch for the arrival of the 10-horned Mother of Harlots yet, as the clause is likely in place only so that they can sell more DVDs later, when they add all the breasts back in. But Variety speculates they could also be planning to “push the envelope in primetime”—something its newly installed chief even promised himself—in order to generate some controversy and prurient curiosity, meaning there should be a preemptive PTC apoplectic fit any minute now. So that’ll be fun.
