Cable sex -- how was it for you?

One advantage premium cable channels have over broadcast networks is they can show nudity. The most groundbreaking display of nudity on ABC was a quick glance of Dennis Franz’s ass on NYPD BLUE. Granted, that was still more arousing than a naked Lena Dunham on HBO, but the point is premium cable has more freedom when it comes to flashing skin. Basic cable is also allowed to get away with “brief nudity” but it’s usually too brief and not nude enough.

The trick for premium cable is to make nudity and sex seem “legit.” That way subscribers could watch it without having to wait until everyone else in the house was asleep.

HBO attempted the “documentary” ploy, which was as see-through as see-through blouses. They aired PORNUCOPIA, A series about the adult industry in the San Fernando Valley complete with incisive interviews of porn stars where we learn why they got into the business and whether or not they’d fuck goats. How this series didn’t win a Peabody I’ll never know.

Then there’s REAL SEX. Saggy middle aged couples try to rediscover their sexuality at a hippie retreat, female mud wrestling, and Rube Goldberg penis machines are showcased in a Sesame Street for Sleazeballs format.

Fortunately, quality dramas like THE SOPRANOS came along and the nudity was just part of the pastiche. It became a bonus, not the reason to watch in the first place.

But make no mistake, sex and nudity are big draws. So HBO went further, putting on TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, where we got to see Sonya Walger and other naked pretty people giving handjobs. The faux credibility here was that they were in therapy. So it wasn’t just gratuitous sex and excessive titillation – it was a psychological exploration of human emotions. They claimed it was raw and they were right – Ms. Walger did not use a lotion when she administered the handjob.

GAME OF THRONES used nudity as a writing device. Anytime they needed characters to rattle off lengthy speeches of dry exposition they just put them in brothels. No fear of audience tune out when there’s fornicating going on in the background.

And now comes MASTERS OF SEX from SHOWTIME (which just got renewed yesterday for a second season). This is a dramatization of the famous Masters & Johnson sex study undertaken in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The fact that SHOWTIME chose this subject matter over say Dr. Harry Harlow’s study (undertaken around the same time) of dependency and affection using monkeys is not coincidental.

But the truth is MASTERS OF SEX is a good show. They manage to satisfy the base interests of us men in the audience while attracting women by presenting a very progressive feminist point of view. The dialogue is intelligent, the characters complex, the sex is hot unless the couple is attached to seven wires, but for me that’s not the big draw.

Lizzy Caplan is luminous. I’ve been a big fan since her work in PARTY DOWN. She’s funny and smart, and here we see that she’s an actress of real depth. Yes, she’s naked quite a bit. But she’s even better with her clothes on. Here’s how good she is: I’d watch this show even if it were on ABC.

MASTERS OF SEX – check it out. You won’t hate it or yourself. And there’s not a single goat in the entire series.