Broadcast network ABC’s crime drama NYPD Blue created a media stir when it subjected viewers to a glimpse of actor Dennis Franz’s naked buttocks.  Years later, an episode of cable network TNT‘s original drama Saving Grace (10:00 p.m. ET) opened with a gratuitous nude scene that made Franz’s…pale in comparison.  For highlighting the cable networks’ cavalier willingness to push the envelope, the July 21st episode of Saving Grace has been named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.  

Touted as a redemptive series chronicling a troubled female detective’s struggle against her personal demons, the show’s underlying positive themes are often undercut by over-the-top depictions of sex and drug use.

The episode opened with a shot of Ham’s naked rear-end as he and Grace wake up on her living room floor, presumably after a night of drunken lovemaking.  Grace tries to rouse Ham by smacking his buttocks, to which he mumbles, “Much harder.”  Grace obliges by licking a dirty fork clean and jabbing him with it.  The couple then migrate to the kitchen, where Ham tells Grace that he has left his wife.  Clearly upset, the commitment-phobic Grace sprays Ham with ketchup.  Not to be outdone, Ham grabs Grace and shoves ice cubes down her panties.  Grace responds by emptying a bottle of mustard on his chest.  Clearly aroused, Grace straddles Ham, licks the condiments off of his body, and proclaims, “You taste like a corndog.”  Grace is then seen kneeling in front of Ham, licking the mustard and ketchup mixture off his abdomen.  Ham reaches into the refrigerator and dumps milk all over her head.  The couple finally collapse to the kitchen floor and began having sex.  All of this occurred before the opening credits. 

This episode illustrates how cable television flaunts the fact that it is not required to adhere to the FCC’s indecency regulations.  Which begs the question: If you don’t want objectionable content like this entering your home, then why should you have to pay for it? 

For graphic sexual content, nudity, and language Saving Grace deserves Worst Cable TV Show of the Week