Post-Super Bowl, Bare Breasts on 'ER' Raise Alarm (Nipplegate II, Coming Thursday Night on NBC)

TelevisionWeek ^ | February 3, 2004

[Timesink]

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004

Post-Super Bowl, Bare Breasts on 'ER' Raise Alarm

Only days after the firestorm created when Janet Jackson exposed her breast during the Super Bowl, plans to air an episode of "ER" on NBC Thursday evening that includes a view of an elderly female patient's bare breast are raising serious concerns among the network's affiliates.

Some NBC affiliates are so uneasy about the scene planned for the first night of sweeps that at least one station group executive described himself Tuesday as "considering what my options are" should NBC decide to air the hour with the exposed breast. "You're not going to find the stations very willing to take the heat," said the station group executive. "I think people are going to be backing off big-time."

NBC had no comment at presstime but is aware of the potential for some affiliates to refuse to air the episode. Senior network executives had screened the scene for members of the NBC affiliates advisory board during a Las Vegas meeting held in conjunction with NATPE in mid-January.

At the time, affiliates expressed what were described as "concerns" about the scene and whether it is, even if done in good taste, essential to the drama, but no final decision was reached. After the board discussion, some affiliates had been told that award winning "ER" executive producer John Wells was unwilling to cut the scene.

Now many affiliates are even more concerned. The post-Super Bowl climate has every station owner feeling super sensitive.

There is a pending FCC investigation of the Super Bowl incident. Last week some stations were fined for earlier incidents and the White House endorsed a call for a ten-fold increase in fines for indecency on TV. There are already indecency hearings on Capitol Hill scheduled and more being threatened.

In light of the atmosphere of fear which has been created, even a tastefully shot, full-on glimpse of a bare breast in a network primetime show inspires less academic and more fearful discussions and concerns. That context led the group executive to predict that should NBC keep the breast scene in, there could be significant defections by affiliates who won't air the show.

John Wells was unavailable for comment. #

[Timesink]

Timing is everything!!

[Timesink]

Worth a j/d ping maybe?

[Fenris6]

Idiots all - why is "a view of an elderly female patient's bare breast" even necessary?

[Terry Mross]

Guess the next thing will be windows so people can watch the doctors examining their patients. Ewwwww.....

[ClancyJ]

Hm.....wonder why the sudden necessity to show a female breast? Why is it impossible to cut that scene?

Oh, the wonders of broadcasting. Such very meaningful decisions. Sometimes it is just time for a producer to get his way in his quest to mark his legacy.

Must be a real power rush to upset the public to the point of overloading their email and phone systems.

Gee, I thought the point was to provide great entertainment in order to sell advertising space at higher rates. Why would advertisers wish to participate in something risky with their hugh advertising budgets?

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

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[nopardons]

Exactly what I was thinking!

[ClancyJ]

Yes. When producers and the tv/hollywood crowd live their lives in the gutter, they know nothing but what is in the gutter.

They cannot tolerate the fact that the public has higher standards than they do and therefore they must force the public to live in the gutter with them.

Sad, they do not comprehend the joy of seeing wholesome entertainment - Lonesome Dove, Seabisquit, 24, Free Willy, and many of the old movies that had great story lines and character development. They do not even realize what a market they could have with providing the entertainment that uplifts and restores faith in the future of man.

No, they are obsessed with shock, with distastefulness, with the depravity of mankind - that is where they feel comfortable and - golly - no need to worry about being creative. All you have to do is think of what could be a new low to stretch the envelope. No need to provide an interesting story - just show nudity and shock the public.

[weegee]

The media has been doing the whole "breast examination" thing for a long time. Educational content is different than looking at a mutilated (a pierce of that size and ornamenation IS mutilation) bare nipple.

Sounds like NBC is trying to pick up some viewers for sweeps by playing up a "controversy".

Adult dramas at least come with warnings and ratings these days. There was no such guide for the Super Bowl.

[non-anonymous]

A few weeks ago MTV showed a breast augmentation documentary in which young, modern women were shown topless without any censoring. It was much more than just the usual in-surgery operating table shots.

I found it to be a distinctly new step beyond the primitive-peoples nudity already on basic cable and PBS.

I wonder what's next.

[PFKEY]

Worth a j/d ping maybe?

Please, enough with the j/d.

[swilhelm73]

Idiots all - why is "a view of an elderly female patient's bare breast" even necessary?

Soley to test the waters. They can claim that if the FCC gives them guff that this was merely educational and not pruient. If the FCC doesn't raise much of a fuss, then they can go on to have younger women topless - in medical situations necessary to the plot - of course.

Also, they thought they were going to get the buzz as the first show to have an exposed breast on regular TV while maintaining the out I mentioned above.

[Swordmaker]

I wonder what's next.

This is the "circuses" part of the "bread and circuses" that will eventually lead to the downfall of any society. It may start with a bare breast (which by itself may be little to offend) but as the public tires of the titilation (pun somewhat intended) the bar will be lowered... and lowered... and lowered. Eventually we will reach the stage of a no-holds barred free-for-all on our TVs... if we let it.

The Half-Time debacle was an in-your-face "shot across the bow" in the culture wars by those who mistake freedom for license and entertainment for shock and startlement. There may be a legitimate reason for the bared breasts scene in ER, an adult entertainment, late at night, that gives it value. The venue is appropriate for such forays on the edge... the Super Bowl is not.

[ClancyJ]

We are going to have to make a stand that we do not wish nudity on primetime tv - no matter how "educational". This is TV - not the education channel.

I don't know why there is such an utter drive to take away all restraints on TV - but there is. And, I do not want to give them the ability to bring anything they wish into my living room. Just because they are trashy people who love more and more pornographic content - does not mean that I have to welcome the same in my living room.

And, I intend to get the message to the advertisers also. "Keep your love of trash out of my house".

[independentmind]

The media has been doing the whole "breast examination" thing for a long time. Educational content is different than looking at a mutilated (a pierce of that size and ornamenation IS mutilation) bare nipple.

Do you think including such a scene in ER falls under the category of "educational content"?

Anyone who has been around older people, particularly women, in a hospital knows that one of the most difficult things they deal with is a loss of privacy related to their bodies. Contrary to what the producer might think, a scene including partial nudity of an elderly person is a gross insult to human dignity.

[Churchjack]

Turn your head and cough, please.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Now that Mystery Babylon is being stripped bare, she's really not much of a mystery.

The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died.

[Junior]

CSI already broke the "bare breast barrier" a couple of years back.

[panaxanax]

"Do you think including such a scene in ER falls under the category of "educational content"?"

It might be, depending on how it is presented.

Remember the mini-series "Roots" way back in 1977? They showed full butt-crack scenes of the "natives" on the slave ships. These "natives" were actors from Hollywood. A butt is a butt no matter what color it is. Nobody complained because it a depicted a historical fact.

I'm not condoning nudity on TV, but if it's done in the interest of science or history, then I think we should relax a bit about seeing a bare breast or a naked rump.

Janet Jackson's display was totally uncalled for.

BTW, I called Direct TV yesterday and cancelled NBC and CBS from our programming.