• The science fiction series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/SYN/1987-94 introduced a race of aliens named Ferengi who required their females to go naked (the Ferengi find clothed women disgusting), remain subservient to their mates and never involve themselves in business affairs. On episode "Ménage à Troi" (5/28/1990), Marina Sirtis as Betazoid Counselor Deanna Troi and Majel Barrett as her mother Lwaxana are kidnapped by a Ferengi named DaiMon Tog who seeks a romantic relationship with Lwaxana and a way to increase his profit margin by using her telepathic abilities in trade negotiations. Upon waking aboard a Ferengi spaceship, Troi and Lwaxana discover their clothes have been removed as befitting a female in the company of one of their captors. Note: It is the Betazed custom to get married in the nude. On episode "Haven" (11/30/1987) Lwaxana explained:

• On the Sept. 30, 1992 episode of ABC's legal drama CIVIL WARS, Mariel Hemingway bared all for the camera (topless in a side view with her far hand covering her near breast) when her character, divorced attorney Sydney Guilford, modeled for a photographer-artiste. The programming executive fearing backlash on the nudity placed a cautionary advisory onto its opening credits to warn viewers of possible adult scenery ahead.
   

• The police drama N.Y.P.D. BLUE/ABC/1993-2005 became the center of controversy when Amy Brenneman as Officer Janice Licalsi displayed her butt during a romantic bedroom scene on the premiere episode and David Caruso as Detective John Kelly exposed his derriere in a locker room scene in an October, 1993 episode. Dennis Franz as Detective Sipowicz later displayed his butt crack on the air during an erotic shower scene ("I usually wash myself down there..."It's getting clean down there...") with his girlfriend, Sylvia Costa (Sharon Lawrence) on episode "The Final Adjustment" (11/22/1994). The sight of Franz's pudgy "everyman" ass gave comedian Jay Leno numerous reasons to "crack" wise about Franz's ass during his late night opening monologues on NBC's THE TONIGHT SHOW. Some examples: "Did we need to see Dennis Franz's ass just before Thanksgiving?"; "I only had a 20-inch screen and couldn't see it all."; and  "This is your ass, and this is your ass on Twinkies..." On LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, a comedy skit about celebrity deaths showed Dennis Franz's tombstone. It read: "I came. I saw. I showed my hairy ass!"  And on the animated series FAMILY GUY (episode "I Never Met the Ded Man 4/11/1999) a cartoon version of Sipowicz warned "Are you gonna tell me what I want to know or am I gonna have to show you my ass?"
   

• The TV-Movie My Breast (1994) starred actress Meredith Baxter who played the role of Joyce Wadler, a New York journalist who discovers she has breast cancer. This landmark movie showed Meredith Baxter bare her breasts for a doctor's examination and in another scene observe herself as she stood nude in front of a mirror. A decade later, the medical drama ER planned to show the breast of an 80-year-old woman as she received emergency treatment, but the scene was cut from the February 5th show following the furor caused when Justin Timberlake who exposed the right breast of singer Janet Jackson during the halftime of Super Bowl 38 in 2004. Although the scene of the older woman was considered "appropriate and in context," the network deemed it inappropriate (in light of the "Janet" event) and asked the show's producers to cut the scene - despite the fact it was scheduled to air after 10:30 p.m. EST.
   

• In 1995,  journalist and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter,  and Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun newspaper. launched LIVE TV. The UK channel featured a program called TOPLESS DARTS. The premise was simple. Hire models to play darts in the nude (for £50 per day) and record the event to air on the telly.  Variations on the theme appeared in such shows as "Election Night Topless Darts," "Topless Darts on the Farm," "Topless Darts in Space", "Topless Darts in the Past", and "Topless Darts at the Ballet." Eventually the channel shut down in 1999. Pocket Books published Live TV! - Telly Brats and Topless Darts - The Uncut Story of Tabloid TV (1999). The channel made a comeback in the summer of 2003
   

• On the April 12, 1995 installment of THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, guest Drew Barrymore decided to give talk show host David Letterman a surprise birthday present, so she jumped on top of his desk, did a little dance and then promptly pulled up her t-shirt to reveal her breasts to her favorite TV show personality. Of course, Dave was the only one who got an eyeful because Drew's back was to the audience. But the expression on old Dave's face was priceless. After Drew returned to her seat, Dave said: "You don't know how much I thank you for that." See also  "Courtney Love" (March 17, 2004)
   

• Alex Kingston, the fabulous British actress who starred on the American TV series ER, appeared in the made for TV movie Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996) based on the 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe. Jointly produced by Granada Television and WGBH Boston, the film (which aired on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre)  follows the adventures of a sexually active woman (born in Newgate Prison) who has her way with numerous romantic conquests in 17th century England as she struggles to avoid poverty and attain prosperity. The movie was not shy when it came to showing Alex Kingston's bare breasts and other naughty bits.
   

• March 15, 1999, an unusual documentary on HBO, Private Dicks: Men Exposed featured a group of naked men of various ages who discussed their penises. New Women magazine reviewed the TV program as "one penis-packed hour, more than 20 subjects, ages 17 to 73, not only strip but speak, grappling honestly and graphically with such topics as masturbation, size, impotence, vasectomies, and circumcision."  Entertainment Weekly reported "Alternately funny and quite literally touching, they let it all hang out to achieve something close to wisdom."
   

• August 8, 1999 saw the debut of a goofy late night British program called NAKED ELVIS that aired on the C4 channel. This pop trivia game show was hosted by Tania Strecker and a naked Elvis Presley impersonator.

External Links