Looks like NYPD Blue is showing crimes of a different kind. It is ABC that is being charged by the FCC for showing nudity during an episode of NYPD Blue. A heavy $1.4 Million fine was slapped on the network.
The episode in question showed Charlotte Ross’ Det. Connie McDowell startled by a young boy as she was about to take a shower, and in doing so showed “multiple, close-up views” of Ross’ “nude buttocks,” the FCC says.
I have seen the shot and I can say that many TV Movies that warn of “adult situations” may show more than this clip does, however the camera work comes into question.
The exact same scene could have been presented with suggestive nudity without actually showing the beautiful Charlotte Ross’ bare bottom. In most of the scene you see her naked with her arms conveniently blocking her breasts and the camera showing from the hips up. It’s pretty clear that she is nude, which is the context of the scene. But then there is a moment we see her drop her robe and they deliberately show her bottom, and then again when she is starting the shower, there is a deliberate dip in the camera giving Ross a full overview.
Completely unneccessary. I think they crossed the line and deserve it. I have seen suggestive nudity on TV many times and its done appropriately, but this was blatantly saying “Look at her ass… see… ass!!!”
Click here to see the “offending” shot yourself.
Comments
I was a heavy watcher of NYPD Blue, and this was common place for them. The actors even joked about when they would get a chance to bare-ass.
The problem is consistency. They call out this particular scene, but not the others. Shower scenes, sex scenes, all gratuitously focused on buttocks. It was because it was allowed…after 10pm.
I remember a sex scene in one of the last couple of seasons between Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his doctor girlfriend. It made this scene look tame.
While I can admit that after seeing stills of the episode that she is showing lots of skin, and there are a couple of shots that, honestly, I can understand the FCC complaining about.
However, maybe I’m a bit off, or have been watching too much of the later night offerings of the BBC, but that’s really not that bad. It’s just somebody naked in a non-sexual situation, is there really, truly, anything wrong with that? Sometimes the sheer prudish-ness of the US just boggles me and I was born here.
Ah, the American mindset never ceases to amaze and astound (or should that be boggle?) my mind. The FCC makes a point to fine ABC for less than 10 seconds of bare ass? What the hell is their issue? Are they so afraid of human beings learning about sexuality? Or maybe they were pissed at the fact that the kid didn’t get a boner (btw, did you see how his ears just cover her nipples?) LOL? Seriously though, can’t the FCC focus a little more on the incest that happens in the daytime soap opera’s instead, and leave us our cute, blond, naked ass?