TiVo Community Forum banner
  • TiVoCommunity.com Ambassador Program Now Open! >>> Click Here

Using nudity to help establish a series

18K views 103 replies 45 participants last post by  Steveknj 
#1 ·
In season one of Yellowstone there were a few scenes of nudity. I do not remember any from Season 2 nor current Season 3. So that begets the question "Was the season 1 nudity used simply to generate interest?"

What other shows have done the same? I'm thinking Westworld cut back on nudity in later seasons.
 
#5 ·
Definitely Westworld. Game of Thrones to a certain extent, though it did continue it was to a lesser degree.

The Alienist isn't showing direct nudity per se, but the storyline this 2nd season is far more sexually charged than the first season.
 
#6 ·
Altered Carbon. It may have been more the shift in tone for season 2, and that nudity didn't fit the "action movie/political intrigue" storyline of the season like it did the noir/gumshoe storyline of season 1. But it felt like you couldn't get through 20 minutes of season 1 without full frontal (male and female), and season 2 had almost nothing.
 
#9 ·
I can't prove this (I have tried searching) but I have a strong feeling that around 2016 +/- that Hollywood made a conscious decision to cut back on nudity relative to earlier in the decade. I don't know if MeToo affected things but a lot of shows dropped it off fast.

Shameless was my example where virtually the whole adult cast went butt naked so to speak. I remember as soon as soon as Cameron Monaghan turned 18 he had a back side scene. And of course Emmy did plenty. Then it seem to have just stopped and the younger cast who are now older than 18 haven't done anything.

Similarly with other shows it has dropped off fast. I don't think it was establishing the show as the OP suggested but that we are in more conservative times what with Epstein, and Weinstein let alone subsequent accused actors like Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, ...
 
#16 · (Edited)
I can't prove this (I have tried searching) but I have a strong feeling that around 2016 +/- that Hollywood made a conscious decision to cut back on nudity relative to earlier in the decade.
I guess Brave New World never got the memo ... ;)
Shameless was my example where virtually the whole adult cast went butt naked so to speak. I remember as soon as soon as Cameron Monaghan turned 18 he had a back side scene. And of course Emmy did plenty. Then it seem to have just stopped and the younger cast who are now older than 18 haven't done anything.

Similarly with other shows it has dropped off fast. I don't think it was establishing the show as the OP suggested but that we are in more conservative times what with Epstein, and Weinstein let alone subsequent accused actors like Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, ...
I think you are spot on with this assessment. What we are seeing is a direct response to the Me Too movement. Studios and production companies are under scrutiny in a way that never existed before, and it's probably just easier to avoid gratuitous nudity and sex scenes. Even when they do have a sex scene, there are much stricter guidelines in place now ...

There's A Whole New Set Of Guidelines For How Movies Go About Simulating Sex
 
#13 ·
I wonder if it has to do with how established the actors become as the season moves along. Taking the GoT example, We saw Emilia Clarke nude quite a bit the first season, but later on, hardly nude at all. She became more well known and established and probably felt that the nudity wasn't going to help her career at that point.
 
#28 · (Edited)
I will say that there's much more male nudity than I can ever remember. Are they trying to even things up?
Whenever I see the Nudity warning at the beginning of a show nowadays I pretty much expect it to be some dude's butt. This is NOT progress! :p
 
#31 ·
What I always come back to is, how much of the nudity we see today is necessary to tell the story and how much is just to titillate us into watching? Today is "anything goes" TV, where outside of the major OTA networks anything goes, especially where advertisers are not involved. Is it better writing just because we can see everything? I'm not so sure.
 
#36 ·
We got Hulu for a month for something I forget, and now we're watching Future Man before it runs out. Contrary to the theory here there seems to be more nudity as the show goes on (we're halfway through season 2 now). However, it's all male full frontal. Which is not my wheelhouse particularly, but doesn't bother me. And, it does serve the "story" (or at least the humor).

The interesting thing about male full frontal (for sure in Future Man) is it's (almost?) all prosthetics. For the squeamish it might help to remember that :)

I agree nudity is not required for most storylines but if they're going to show people in bed / getting up I wish that they wouldn't have them wearing underwear. Fine, have them get up with a blanket or sheet or towel... it's not very realistic (unless it's a new relationship) but whatever. Or, use a bathrobe or cut away or use particular camera angles to avoid nudity if you want. But wearing underwear is so stupid... it's almost like the 50's/60's shows where the parents slept in separate beds. Just lazy directing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DevdogAZ
#40 ·
The interesting thing about male full frontal (for sure in Future Man) is it's (almost?) all prosthetics. For the squeamish it might help to remember that :)
A lot of things bug me about nudity portrayal, especially with TV, and this is one of my peeves: if the viewer THINKS that's you naked, you may as well be naked. At that point it doesn't matter.

Another peeve: cable & streaming shows have so much nudity these days to the point where it's come to be expected. In a show where 99% of the cast is or has been naked, whenever there's a scene where you would expect someone to be naked and they aren't, it takes me right out of the story. Sort of the opposite of the past when the nudity would take you out of the story, now it's like, "Ooh, looks like they have a no nudity clause" or "that guy has a contract saying he'll show his butt as much as they want but no peen".

Yet another: the classic "we just had sex but when I sit up I'm covering my breasts with this blanket". Does anybody do that? Again, it takes you right out of the story. But for me, it's more realistic if people on tv are like reality. If you portray someone taking a shower, or changing, or having sex, they're bound to be naked.

And what's up with these people who suddenly are having sex with their clothes on? I have more of these if you like. ;)
 
#56 ·
Exactly -- too much use loses the value. In the office, I heard it very rarely, where the emphasis was generally warranted and had that effect.

If you use your strongest language for everyday stuff, what do you use in situations that need something stronger than usual?
 
#66 ·
I only read the first page then jumped here.. so I see this was mentioned.. The language on 'basic cable' has gotten WAY more coarse over the past few years. The "s word" is commonplace nowadays, and it was a HUGE deal when 'er' was allowed to say it ONCE on an episode in the late 90s or early 2000s. They also say the 'd' word often too, though that one shows up on broadcast too.

e.g. The Daily Show has swearing nowadays.

Edit: Yes, I know cable isn't covered by the same FCC rules, but at least the commercial basic cable channels tended to de facto follow the same rules.
 
#71 ·
That's my theory, which I mentioned up thread. Once the actors are "famous" enough to say no, they can. As I mentioned with GoT, Emilia Clark was nude almost every episode the first season, and hardly at all later on. And even later on, there might have been a body double. There certainly was one for Lena Heady in the famous "shame" scene.
 
#73 ·
Though as a counter-example, while I think the swearing is "excessive", I actually would rather have that than bleeping most of the time. Except for a live show before 10PM, I think bleeping should basically never be used. Especially when sitcoms nowadays intentionally have swearing and them bleeping AND BLURRING THEIR MOUTHS, it's stupid. Either have the swearing or use different language.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top