Yet outside of a few counter-examples, the time when adult themes and frank nudity were inextricably linked has clearly passed. According to Jim McBride, aka Internet legend Mr. Skin (try to think of a more knowledgeable authority on the subject, I dare you), American TV shows in 2025 have featured 51 nude scenes. If we double that number (since 2025 is only about half over), that gets us to 102, which would still be the fewest television nude scenes since 2005 (95), when there were far fewer TV shows than there are now and streaming was barely a twinkle in a businessman’s eye. That certainly would speak to a decline—though McBride also notes that the pattern doesn’t seem to hold for foreign shows, which, thanks to streaming, are more available than ever before.
“Of the 15 shows from 2024 with our GREAT NUDITY RATING,” says McBride, “only Disclaimer is American. Everything else is foreign.”
An Italian show called Supersex—based on the life and times of porn legend Rocco Siffredi—had, perhaps not surprisingly, the most nudity of last year’s shows, according to McBride. As for why the marked decline in nudity in American prestige TV, McBride says, “I don’t know, but if I had to guess: The big conglomerates like Disney who now do TV shows aren’t usually nudity-friendly. But, again, if I had to guess, it’s mainly because American Gen Zs just don’t care about nudity like older generations. We were willing to drive to a theater and pay to see a topless actress. Graphic nudity is all over the Internet now. The thrill is gone. Why pay for something that’s free all over?”
Rolling Stone television critic Alan Sepinwall, who watches more television than anyone I know, echoes some of McBride’s analysis. “I think [the decline in television nudity] goes hand in hand with how sexless mainstream movies have become,” Sepinwall says. “There’s a belief, right or wrong, that Gen Z and even younger Millennials just don’t want to see sex on screen, or even romance to a degree. Getting rid of nudity is a byproduct.”
Of course, if Gen Z really was that disinclined towards sex scenes (or were perceived to be that way by the powers that be), that still wouldn’t explain why the phenomenon seems largely limited to American-made shows. Other countries, presumably, also have zoomers and expect them to watch TV. Moreover, if Gen Z was less into seeing sex on screen, why do the most popular social media posts still seem to be variations on the thirst trap? “Attractive person doing a thing” seems like the most evergreen kind of content, basically from the Lumiere brothers through today.
The Showtime series Masters of Sex (2013-2016) was sort of the beau ideal of a show explicitly dealing with sexual themes that was also a smart drama challenging the norms of traditional TV. Masters creator Michelle Ashford says the series, which starred Michael Sheen as real-life sexuality researcher William Masters, would never get on television today (“Once the networks realized it was about a male boss pressuring a female subordinate to have sex with him in the workplace, that would be a hard pass.”) But as she sees it, there are other reasons you couldn’t make Masters of Sex today.
