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A "Desperate" Football Triumph
Nicollette Sheridan may be desperate but at least she's decent.
The Desperate Housewives star got the federal seal of approval Monday when the FCC ruled that her controversial towel-dropping promo for Monday Night Football last year did not rise (or, if you prefer, sink) to the level of indecency.
In the spot, Sheridan, playing her man-hungry Edie Britt, confronts Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens in the locker room before the game and tries to coax him to stay. With that, she removes her towel and leaps into Owens' arms. "Aw, hell," says Owens. "The team's going to have to win without me."
MNF fans never actually saw Sheridan's assets, but by the end of the telecast the NFL was fuming, ABC was apologetic and conservative-minded viewers were apoplectic. An FCC rep said the agency received more than 50,000 calls and emails about the segment and an investigation was launched.
However, on Monday, all five FCC commissioners voted that the segment, while "titillating" and "sexually suggestive," is simply "not graphic or explicit enough to be indecent under our standard."
The two major factors working in ABC's favor were a lack of foul language and a lack of extreme nudity. The only skin that was shown was of Sheridan's upper back. And Owens' "hell" is downright quaint compared to, say, NYPD Blue.
While the FCC gave ABC a flyer, some of the commissioners were not thrilled that the promo aired at all, particularly during the 9 p.m. hour when kids could have tuned in.
"There wasn't much self-discipline in this particular promotion," Commissioner Michael Copps said in a statement. "As stewards of the airwaves, broadcasters can and should do better."
Sheridan's publicist declined to comment. No immediate word from ABC, either, although the network previously issued a mea culpa saying the spot was "inappropriate."
Although the FCC has handed down record fines in the wake of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction (which, barring a successfull appeal, will cost Viacom and CBS some $550,000 in fines) in January 2004, the agency has been in a more forgiving mood of late. Last month, commissioners dismissed indecency complaints against ABC's unedited broadcast of Saving Private Ryan, Fox's Arrested Development and The Simpsons, NBC's Will & Grace and the WB's Angels.
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