NYPD Blue: Obscency In Nude Awakening

In February 15th, 2003, the episode of a long-running ABC TV show “NYPD Blue,” “Nude Awakening” has premiered, and became controversial, due to a scene involving nudity. Over the last few years, the terms “indecency” and “obscenity” has been defined and redefined, in order to create proper regulations on programs’ usage of mature content on television. This rule has become more prominent in primetime programs, but not in cable programs since they depend on subscriptions. Ever since cable was introduced, primetime had to frequently compete with cable because the primetime shows had shown decline in ratings as a result of cable’s success. This is partially due to cable’s incorporation of adult content that can’t be often presented on network programming, primarily during daytime and evening. According to Jennifer Holt’s article “NYPD Blue: Content Regulation,” the “three major networks saw their average ratings slide from 50 down to 33.6,” so what primetime shows like “NYPD Blue” did was to lure more adult audiences by implementing mature content. After “Nude Awakening” was aired, …show more content…
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Connie’s nudity, especially from the back, was shown a bit too long and as a result, breaks the FCC rules to the point of obscenity. Shows like “NYPD Blue” were why the FCC had to regulate the censorship rules again, ever since the “Pacifica” case, which was regarding George Carlin’s famous “Filthy Worlds” monologue in 1972. Back then, the FCC found this routine to be indecent but not obscene, since Carlin was focusing on the satire of the usage of bad words on television. Around the 1990s, primetime shows began using more adult content, so the FCC had to distinguish the rules between “indecency” and “obscenity,” mainly focusing on First Amendment