NBC has some sexy new ‘Friends.’
The bawdy sitcom “Coupling” is one of the new prime-time shows announced last month that’s most likely to click with viewers next season, according to early predictions from experts on Madison Avenue.
But while the new series, with Rena Sofer and Sonya Walger in a group of six bed-hopping thirtysomethings, is being touted as a successor to TV’s top comedy, it may have some network TV viewers blushing.
The first episode has jokes about oral sex and shaved pubic hair.
It also shows a couple trying to have sex in a toilet stall at a bar.
One of the frisky characters in the stall even sends a friend out to get him a condom.
“It makes the innuendos in “Will & Grace’ look calm,” said Tom DeCabia, executive vice president for ad-buying firm PHD USA. “There is stuff on this show that you never thought you would see on network television.”
NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker has said there was no way “Coupling” – based on a popular British series – could play early in prime time.
DeCabia agreed, adding that it’s unlikely NBC would use “Coupling” to replace “Friends” on Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT, after that show leaves prime time following next season. “I don’t know if the show could ever play at 8,” he said.
Steve Sternberg, analyst for ad-buying firm Magna Global USA, said the boundary-pushing content on “Coupling” will generate a lot of attention for the show. In Sternberg’s fall-preview report, it’s on his short list of programs that have the most potential to survive.
“It’s going to be so hyped that people are going to watch,” he said. “It will get sampling.”
But the show’s long-term success will depend on viewers being interested in the characters beyond their sex lives.
“It’s going to depend on whether they are likable after the third or fourth episode,” he said.
The other comedy pick in Sternberg’s report on the new season is “Two and a Half,” starring Charlie Sheen as a jingle writer who takes in his divorced brother and nephew. The show will air between “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “CSI: Miami” on CBS.
Sternberg also picked “NCIS,” a spin-off of the military series “JAG,” and “The Handler,” with Joe Pantoliano as a trainer for undercover agents. Both shows will air on CBS.
“Tarzan and Jane,” with its well-known characters, heavy promotion and sexy actors (including Australian male model Travis Fimmel), also has a shot on the WB, said Sternberg. “Should hit or flop big (and quickly),” he wrote.
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STEAMY ON THE SET
NBC’s “Coupling” is expected to generate plenty of controversy this fall because of its sexual content. But it won’t be the first time a show has offended some people by being racy.
Here’s a look at some other memorable TV moments:
1951 “I Love Lucy.” Ricky Ricardo and Lucille Ball were beloved TV actors, but when Ball was pregnant with their son, Little Ricky, neither could use the word “pregnant” on air.
1961 “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” A decade after Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds, Van Dyke and his TV wife, Mary Tyler Moore, did too. But Moore sparked a furor by wearing pants that were just a bit too tight for prime-time television.
1965 “I Dream of Jeannie.” Network censors didn’t want Barbara Eden – who played Larry Hagman’s sexy genie – to bare her bellybutton with revealing costumes.
1970 “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Conceived as a series about a divorced woman, producers bowed to pressure from network executives, settling on having Moore play a single working woman who had broken up with her fiance.
1994 “NYPD Blue.” Right from the start, characters in this gritty crime drama were using profanity, and for the first time, viewers saw nude bodies in sexual situations on network television.
1997 “Ellen.” Star Ellen DeGeneres made history in April when she came out as a lesbian on the show – and in real life.
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AP-NY-06-06-03 0932EDT
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