Top 10 TV Shows With the Most Nude Scenes

Every modern anxiety and vice grip the sleazy suburbanites of East Highland, California. With themes including body image, orientation and sex drive, nudity is prevalent on HBO’s “Euphoria”. Each episode pushes the envelope with it across genders, as well as graphic simulated sex. While the teen characters are obviously played by adults, the show has received much controversy for holding nothing back in dramatizing the mature exploits of kids these days. Critical acclaim aside, “Euphoria” has engaged the public in debate about how to address youth and general sexuality in mainstream television. Whether it can get any more scandalous with the characters moving into adulthood for the third season, the first two were candid enough about some naked truths.

Showrunner and star Lena Dunham aspired to a nuanced, unglamorous portrait of Millennial womanhood on “Girls”. She and her castmates weren't afraid to bare all in every sense. The HBO dramedy wasn't just noted for representing realistic female bodies. It represented them as frequently and as casually as possible. Of course, the regular sex scenes further defied idealized Hollywood myths with awkward humor, romance and titillation. It was a tasteful confrontation with anxieties about body image and nudity in everyday life. There was probably more controversy surrounding critics’ scrutiny of this hallmark. Whether the nudity on “Girls” can be considered gratuitous or refreshingly natural, there's plenty of it across six seasons.

For eight seasons, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” stripped all romance from the high fantasy genre. One of its most talked-about methods was the extensive use of nudity. Much of the cast disrobed for sensationalistic or bold, often disturbing dramatic purposes. Some actors were actually recruited from the adult film industry. This element of the brand was often criticized for diluting the show’s prestige, especially as it was disproportionately focused on women. Such scenes were thus walked back in later seasons of “Game of Thrones”, and are surprisingly rare on its spin-off. The nudity on “House of the Dragon” is also generally more modest and male-centric. At any rate, its predecessor had enough explicit material for several shows.

Before “Game of Thrones”, Starz really set the standard for shock value in TV costume epics. Their take on the legend of gladiator-turned-revolutionary Spartacus went way over-the-top on style, obscene language and gore. Never mind the graphic nudity of both men and women. Sexuality drove a great deal of the show’s characterization. But its Ancient Rome’s glaringly anachronistic body types and cosmetic enhancements asserted the gratuitousness of it all. At least this complements the camp value of “Spartacus”, creatively entangled with a truly sweeping storytelling over three distinctly titled seasons. Starz’s spin-off “Spartacus: House of Ashur” has a lot of substance to live up to, never mind its more saucy gimmicks.

Excessive nudity doesn't have to equate to gratuitous. Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” fictionalizes the lives and work of sexology pioneers William Masters and Virginia Johnson. This means that each episode is full of graphic sexual content… um, in the name of science. Nudity is also utilized as a way of expressing the complexity of the characters and relationships in the 1950s and ‘60s. The show tastefully placed sexuality at the center of the human condition, winning critical acclaim as a legitimately adult drama. Unfortunately, the premise was tough to sell to a wide audience. “Masters of Sex” may have ended prematurely with four seasons, but it was a lofty experiment in premium TV standards.

Showtime’s “The L Word” was ahead of its time for focusing on LGBTQ culture from the female perspective. It’s driven by friendship, love, politics and, of course, the bedroom. The show features tons of casual female nudity and passionate hookups. Some feel that this key trend across six seasons sensationalized the subject matter. Moreover, many in the represented community criticized the perpetuation of an affluent Hollywood fantasy. The showrunners at least respected that for the short-lived reboot “The L Word: Generation Q”, which was just as steamy as the original and much more diverse. “The L Word” may not have been the perfect representation for its ambition, but the explicit material is confrontational enough.

The sexy vampire fantasy was practically the heart of HBO’s “True Blood”. This steamy supernatural soap explores society after synthetic blood allows vampires to come out, as it were. Obvious allegories for sexuality, blended with camp, made graphic nudity a hallmark of seven seasons. In fact, it escalated with each season. This custom helped make “True Blood” a hot topic and a subject of controversy. Besides accusations of exploitative sexual content, particularly in later plotlines, there was criticism of imbalanced nudity between men and women. The show's ostensibly progressive themes were as divisive as its storytelling. “True Blood” remains a cult classic, partly for how far it took racy soap tropes on premium cable.

David Duchovny’s shocking follow-up to “The X-Files” may as well have added two more X’s. Showtime’s “Clifornication” follows bachelor writer Hank Moody through the Los Angeles dating and celebrity scenes. There was no shortage of beautiful people across seven seasons, but there was a shortage of clothes. Awkward sexual exploits were a key comedic and plot device that grew more prevalent as the show went along. Many viewers felt that it came to rely too heavily on nudity. Duchovny himself, who struggled with many of Moody's vices, told Rolling Stone magazine that the complicated themes of debauchery got muddled by sensationalism. “Californication” is still a blunt portrait of excess, particularly in one area.

Only HBO could do justice to “The Deuce”, which finds epic drama in New York’s sex work and adult film industries around the 1970s. Needless to say, explicit male and female nudity is rampant in each episode. At least the boundary-pushing content was appropriate for the raunchy subject matter. The dedication to the cast and crew’s comfort was no less groundbreaking. “The Deuce” was the first TV show to have a resident intimacy coordinator, now a standard for sex scenes in Hollywood productions. The show could definitely back up its commentary on the perils and politics of crude entertainment. But mainstream entertainment would have to get pretty crude to match that much nudity in three seasons.



Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Edgy Cinemax Drama Aestheticized Nudity as Much as Action

Cinemax’s Short-Lived Erotic Dramedy Challenged Nudity Records in Just One Season

The Starz Anthology Tackled Sexual Politics Thoroughly and Graphically

This Revolutionary Dramedy About a Feminist Erotic Magazine Featured Mostly Male Nudity

Steamy Romance Has Become a Staple of Starz’s Long-Running Historical Epic

Paul Abbott adapted his British dramedy to working-class Chicago with even more riotous satire and nuance. Showtime’s “Shameless” also took advantage of its premium cable format to fulfill its title. For 11 seasons, the Gallaghers coped with dysfunction through debauchery, crime and steamy misadventures. There were hundreds of nude scenes to progress the characters, comedy and commentary. Emmy Rossum most notably defended this content and defended against being shamed for it. But was all of it really necessary? Nudity was part of a shocking brand that actively outdid the competition in mature television. With even that declining over time, there may never be another show like “Shameless”. At least there's still quality TV behind the more crude and controversial content.




Which shows do you think used their racy moments most memorably and effectively? Get frank in the comments.