As we discuss the problem of too much sexual content on primetime network television I think it would be appropriate to gaze back to a time when there was not enough sex on TV. Television has a come a long way from the separated beds of Lucy and Ricky in the CBS comedy I Love Lucy which began in 1951. Most of the television shows of the 1950 and 1960s were variety show formats but some of the most popular ones were story driven shows like I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith Show, Lassie and Gunsmoke. These shows especially Lucy and Beaver portrayed contemporary married couples as happy but seemingly sexless. Ricky and Lucy shared an occasional peck but their bedroom was set up with two separate beds. Their neighbors, Fred and Ethel, were even less sexual than Ricky and Lucy. All they did was fight and complain about the other. I suppose they foiled Lucy and Ricky so that they seemed more loving but didn’t need to publicly display affection.
Many shows of the 1950s and 1960s treated sex as taboo. Audiences of the 1950s had puritanical ideals and values and would not tolerate inappropriate references to sex. As the late sixties ushered in new attitudes about sex and people’s bodies, television began to reflect that social change. Programs began to include more scenes displaying sexual content. And today nearly every show on primetime network TV can make reference and openly display sex consequence free, because a large portion of the audience has become desensitized to exposure of sexual content.
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