I don't know where to start. Certainly you've heard the flack about the Terrell Owens/Nicollette Sheridan opening to last night's Monday Night Football game. I finally saw the scene in question (having given up on MNF a long time ago and never bothering to tune in for "Desperate Housewives.") this evening.
Please. It's fairly tame. She drops her towel. You see her bare back for a couple of seconds. Are we really so puritanical that we find that offensive? I submit that you see more than that any night on primetime television. Any night.
But I'm going to mention the 1000 pound elephant in the room. I hate to think this about people, but is it racial? In 2004 is it still verboten to show an inter-racial hookup? One would have hoped that most people would have gotten over that, say, two hundred years ago. Perhaps not. I don't know.
Posted by mikewolf at November 16, 2004 07:32 PMWe received DOZENS of phone calls from offended viewers... saying that it was way too provocative and that we saw *way too much* of a nude woman.
And yes, many of them were offended particularly because it was a white woman and a black man.
Wow. Bible-thumping bigots in the South. Imagine that.
And remember, those are the views of the majority of the nation.
Posted by: Kirsten on November 17, 2004 01:45 AMPaging Annabella Sciorra, please come to the multi-racial courtesy phone.
Hadn't heard the flap, but I'm not surprised, which is a sad thing to say.
I am reading Philip Roth's "Plot Against America" right now, which is a woefully immediate cautionary tale. I think you'd like it...
Posted by: Linus on November 17, 2004 12:17 PMI finally saw the scene in question last night on the news, and wondered that exact same thing. Because you're right, that stuff is on almost every channel on any given night and no one raises an eyebrow. So, I hate to say it, but it sure seems like the interracial thing is behind the uproar. Sad.
Posted by: Jen on November 18, 2004 09:28 AMYeah, television is not sacred anymore, all the networks are pushing the envelope ( some more that others, this season of Nip/Tuck was littered wtih soft porn...teenage girls are having abortions), so what the hell, it seems like ANYTHING goes these days. It was a brilliant publicity getter.
As for the interacial thing, people should just get over it.
Posted by: Holly on November 19, 2004 12:23 AM