More on the ER breast shot

Ok, this is kind of weird - I could have sworn that they just aired the repeat of the ER episode in which an elderly woman's breasts were shown last Thursday, but apparently it's actually scheduled to be repeated tonight - but with the shot of the elderly woman's breasts edited out. I'm sorry for any confusion about that.

The network said Wednesday it had "unfortunately concluded that the atmosphere created by this week's events has made it too difficult for many of our affiliates to air this shot."
NBC's decision was criticized by John Wells, the executive producer of the popular and long-running medical drama, who said such "affiliate overreactions" have a "chilling effect" on dramatic integrity.

In a statement, Wells called the Jackson incident at last Sunday's Super Bowl "inappropriate and deplorable on a broadcast intended for viewers of all ages."

But "the incidental exposure of an elderly woman's breast in the context of a medical trauma is not comparable," he said.
Viewers advised of a show's adult content are capable of "making the distinction and adjusting their viewing habits accordingly," he said.

"This type of network behaviour is one of the primary reasons that so many of today's producers and viewers are increasingly turning to HBO and other cable outlets that do not censor responsible storytelling," Wells said.

In its statement, NBC agreed that the scene, in which an 80-year-old woman receives emergency treatment, is "appropriate and in context" and noted it would have aired late in the evening, after 10:30 p.m. EST.

But the network said it couldn't ignore the furor that followed a musical number in which Justin Timberlake pulled off part of Jackson's costume, exposing her breast to 89 million viewers.

When I first watched the episode, I wasn't sure why they had felt it necessary to include the shot of the patient's breasts. In the scene, the woman is receiving emergency medical care and her granddaughter become quite agitated when the woman's clothing is removed, exposing her naked chest to the doctors and nurses. The little girl tells the doctors to stop what they're doing, saying her grandmother is DNR and then saying her grandmother wouldn't want to be seen naked.

While I suppose the nudity helps make it clear that the girl knows her grandmother would be horrified at being seen naked, it wasn't at all necessary to make the point. The scene could have easily been shot from a different angle, or one of the actors could even have been instructed to reach their arm across the patient (like to hand a doctor or nurse an instrument they'll need or something) at the moment that the clothing is removed to cover the actual view of her breasts but still making it clear that she was exposed. These kinds of techniques have been used many, many times and don't really have any effect on how the scene is perceived. The first time I saw this episode, I was so surprised by the nudity that I ended up having to rewind the show a bit so I could catch the dialog from that scene again.

At any rate, it's now been cut. There's something oddly amusing about the idea that it was ok to show it before Janet did her little striptease, and would still be considered ok to show it later in the evening, but right now it has to go. I seriously doubt NBC would have removed it if the re-airing weren't in such close proximity to the Superbowl dust-up. Had it not been scheduled to be repeated until a month or two from now, I'm have a feeling it would have been left in, given our nation's ADD when it comes to scandals.

UPDATE - 3:18 am 2/6/2002: Ok. Well. It looks like I was wrong about being wrong. The episode tonight is a brand-new episode, and was supposed to include a shot of an elderly woman's naked breasts, but the scene was cut. This means that there are at least TWO episodes this season - one that has already aired twice, and the episode tonight - which were filmed to include nudity. No wonder I was a bit confused. It's intersting, though - is using naked, elderly breasts a new "thing" for ER? Seems kinda weird, if you ask me.

Posted by thorswitch at February 5, 2004 05:06 PM | TrackBack