ABC apologizes for steamy MNF intro
 

The network's steamy intro to the Philadelphia-Dallas game, featuring a naked Nicollette Sheridan jumping into the arms of Eagles receiver Terrell Owens, drew complaints from viewers and the NFL.

ABC Sports apologized Tuesday for the segment, used a day earlier to promote the hit show "Desperate Housewives" and broadcast just nine months after another football flap, the Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco.

"We have heard from many of our viewers about last night's "MNF" opening segment and we agree that the placement was inappropriate," ABC Sports said in a statement.

The NFL called the intro "inappropriate and unsuitable for our "Monday Night Football" audience."

"While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

The FCC is investigating the incident, CNN reported Monday.

The spot showed Owens and Sheridan in an empty locker room, with Sheridan wearing only a towel and provocatively asking Owens to skip the game for her.

After she dropped her towel, he smiled, agreed to be late for the contest and she jumped into his arms. Sheridan was shown only from behind and above the waist after she dropped the towel.

Then the shot panned out to two more stars of "Desperate Housewives" Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, watching the scene unfold on a television and commenting on desperate women.

The Eagles said they appreciated ABC Sports' apology.

"It is normal for teams to cooperate with ABC in the development of an opening for its broadcast," the team said. "After seeing the final piece, we wish it hadn't aired."

ABC has broadcast "Monday Night Football" with a 5-second delay this season, a precaution after Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at February's Super Bowl.

At halftime of that game, Justin Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson's brassiere, exposing her right breast to a TV audience of some 90 million. The Super Bowl was broadcast on CBS, which was fined a record $550,000 by the FCC.

:rolleyes:

The fundies are just looking for any reason to get Desperate Housewives kicked off the air. I find it rather funny that they complain the show is inappropriate for their young children. Kinda makes you wonder why parents allow their young children to stay up past nine o'clock on a Sunday night to be exposed to such a program. And aren't these the same people who demanded the V-chip?

They are such losers. Like seeing a naked woman is going to poison them or something. Oh wait, impure thoughts... Jeez Louise, can we fight for important things, please? Ugh!!

Seriously though, what is with this obsession that nudity is evil?

I didn't think the intro was bad at all.

It's 6 p.m. on the west coast...8 p.m. central.

I disagree. Being a mother of a 12 year boy you dont quite want them looking at naked bodies in sexual situations. I cringe when the Herbal Essence commercial, mimicking a womans orgasm, comes on. I enjoy them immensely but not ready for my child to know about a womans orgasm. I dunno, I just think our kids are growing up way to fast. :distress:

I think this is hilarious...
 

People need to worry about something that matters. ABC apologized afterward...like they didn't know the kind of reaction this would get. Geez people...lighten up.

Then people shouldn't let their kids watch that stuff!!

It is NOT the networks fault - it's the fault of the parents if their kids are watching that stuff....my sister maintains strict restrictions on what my nephew watches....if he's still up when they want to watch something lik DH - then they either tape it - or he goes and reads or plays....:shrug:

So yeah - I don't think tv networks are really the place that should hold the responsibility - I don't want a show I like taken off because some parents don't approve...then don't watch it...

Well, can you tell I don't have kids? I didn't realize this show airs so early in other time zones. I hate that Herbal Essences commercial too. They seem to have a new campaign though that avoids that. To be honest, I didn't see the NS commercial so I am not aware of how explicit it was. I'm just super sensitive to any sort of censorship these days in this political climate.

HAAAHAA!!! It's kind of amusing, I'll admit, occasionally watching these stupid networks, representing the worst kind of corporate think, repeatedly flagellate themselves whenever negative "feedback" rolls in.
Well, blow me down! So the Monday Night Football audience doesn't like slinky little Nicolette Sheridan? What corporate doublespeak crap.
Ah, yes . . . the inevitable flunkie issues forth.
My goodness. Does that ever-so-vigilant group of puritanical busybodies have nothing better to do?

God, how I wish Mencken were still alive.

Ummm, I agree with you totally. I restrict what my son watches. The V Chip is enabled on his television. We watch Monday Night Football, I said I didnt see anything wrong with the intro. But commercials that are on your local stations, abc, nbc & cbs air those kind of commercials and you dont know their coming on, you could be watching a family show and there it is... now unless you're sitting there with remote in hand ready to switch the channel...too late...done over.....

That's certainly a wise stance. However, in practical terms, it would require throwing your TV sets in the trash.
Actually, the kids feeding themselves a daily diet of television of any kind generally don't grow up at all.

Very True!

Oh - right - that has actually happened where a spotty commercial showed up - so in that case - yeah pretty much out of parental control....side note _ I stopped using Herbal Essences years ago because I found their commercials so utterly stupid...

I didn't find the skit to be anymore sexual that those darn Levitra ~ Viagra commercials they run through the entire game. :nod:

Me too. :p

Yea, there's another example.

BTW, I see you're from Dallas. I was so rooting for the Cowboys. :wavey:

I wouldn't let my kids watch it at all, PERIOD. No matter if it was on at one in the afternoon or three in the morning. I would know exactly what my children watch, when they watch it. The V-chip has been around for almost ten years, it's no ones fault but the parents if they don't utilize it and end up exposing their children to "objectionable" material. It's getting really boring listening to parents complain about television when it's obvious that if they were doing their jobs in keeping their children form watching such things, there would be no problem.

It all depends on the parent and the child. I grew up watching horror movies and TV shows like Melrose Place, Picket Fences, and American Gothic, yet I turned out perfectly fine. I don't solicit hookers or rape women, nor I do murder people. :laugh: But, I've always thought that parents should be up-front with their children about things like sex and violence, not hide them from it. People should breed maturity in their children.

I'm quite surprsied that no one is complaining over the fact that ABC Family airs shows like Smallville and Gilmore Girls during the day. Or movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Birdcage. :shocked:

I agree with you on this. I'm glad they have stopped showing the Christina Aguilera advert for some mobile company... virgin I think. Where she is going up and down on the chair? My 8 year old wanted more of an explanation....

Pip

Just to clarify, you wouldn't let your children watch football? My son loves loves football. He plays on a little league team. I think sports are a good way to keep children active and excercising instead of TV or video games.

Omigod, we don't get to see that stuff over here. American stars do lots of commercials for other countries that they don't do here. She is so skanky, ewwww, sorry your 8 year old had to see that!!!

No, I wouldn't let them watch shows like Desperate Housewives. :laugh:

As for football, it would depend on how old the kid was. I wouldn't let my kid stay up on a schoolnight and watch any sort of TV, it's bed by 8PM. Unless he/she was older, of course.

The difference between American TV and British TV is startling. They can say "****" and "asshole" on the BBC and show naked rear ends and have frank talk about orgies, but we can't. :laugh: Just watch one episode of Absolutely Fabulous!

Oh, Okay..I was quoting the time for MNF. I was like, now what is wrong with football? :laugh:

Gilmore Girls is a ridiculously family-oriented show, there shouldn't be any problems with it being on during the day. It was actually initially funded by a grant from some parents/family counsel, they got a grant for basically being relatively family-friendly, and showing unconventional family relationships in a positive light. Smallville, on the other hand... dirty!

In other ABC news-

ABC Teams 'Alias' with 'Lost' for Midseason

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) "Desperate Housewives" has become a runaway hit for ABC this season in the Sunday timeslot formerly occupied by "Alias." That's created a bit of a dilemma -- albeit one any network would like to have -- when it came to finding a new home for the spy series.
ABC will solve that problem by pairing "Alias" with its other freshman smash, "Lost," on Wednesday nights beginning Jan. 5. Both shows are executive produced by J.J. Abrams, and ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson is hoping that link will help "Alias" break beyond its cult-show status in the ratings.

"When we made the strategic decision this fall on 'Alias,' we only hoped to be in the situation we find ourselves in today," McPherson says. "'Lost' provides a terrific platform for 'Alias'' new season. Not only do both shows have similar audience profiles ... but they also share J.J.'s unique sensibility. This is a great two-hour block of programming."

"Alias" will open its fourth season with a two-hour premiere at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, Jan. 5. ABC is sticking to its plan to air the show without repeats through the rest of the season, which would put its season finale near the end of May sweeps.
As a result of "Alias" moving to Wednesday, the "Bachelor" franchise is being shipped to Monday nights, where ABC will replace "Monday Night Football" with an all-unscripted night of programming.

Beginning Jan. 10, Mondays will lead off with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How'd They Do That?," a behind-the-scenes look at the hit home-makeover series that ABC tried out as a special on Nov. 1, to promising results. Each episode will break down the previous night's "EM: Home Edition" to explain how host Ty Pennington and his team of contractors and designers accomplished their build.

"The Bachelorette," featuring ex-rose recipient Jen Schefft, will air at 9 p.m. Mondays. Schefft is returning to the TV-romance game after her engagement and subsequent breakup with "Bachelor" No. 3 Andrew Firestone. A new series, "Supernanny," debuts Jan. 17 and will air at 10 p.m. Mondays.

"What to do with Monday night after football has always been one of the network's biggest challenges," McPherson says. "But we think that we've come up with a strategy for success."

The schedule shuffle leaves the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," which ABC previously announced for Monday nights post-football, without a home for the time being. It and another drama, "Eyes," will be used to plug holes as needed.
_______________________________________

Today's an awesome day! I just found out that I get to keep my job and am not getting laid off, something I've been on pins and needles about for months, and Alias is going to be on in like seven weeks!

And my only problem with the naked Nicolette Sheridan is that it should've been a naked Eva Longoria!

It's unbelievable how puritanical American people are. It just makes me sick.

I love AbFab. Those two are hysterical! Edina is only alive because she's been preserved by vodka!

I was rooting for the Cowboy's but they looked like they were still in the locker room. :eek:

:laugh: I know! Have you seen the episode where Saffy gives birth to her baby? Bo and Marshall show up and try to steal it for their Hollywood adoption company to sell to Halle Berry. :laugh: BUT THEY END UP STEALING THE PLACENTA INSTEAD!

I actually haven't seen the show in quite a while, I haven't seen this one. Sounds more like a South Park episode!

LOVE AbFab - but never saw that episode...and now I have no place to see them but currently can't afford the DVD's ;)

My favorite episode is and always will be Poor - I love when they go on the drunken outing through the city...and the classic, "Why not tax the stupid people!?!"

:laugh:

"Let's just have a stupidity tax! We don't all need nursemaiding!"

My personal favorite is Orgy. "They don't put fingers on these gloves, dear!" :lol: I literally spewed my drink!!!!!!!!!! And the Paris epsiode was hysterical. "Your tits are the keys to your cage, dahling!"

Series 5 came out on DVD a few months back, get it when you can because you won't be disappointed. It has the placenta episode. :laugh:

The reason I posted this...
 

was because I find ABC hypocritical...The wine/bitch/moan that "Saving Private Ryan" was too graphic (Bull****!) & filled with vulgar language (More Bull****!) yet they show the MNF intro (Which I missed because who wanted to see the mighty Eagles DESTROY the "Cow-girls" :nod: )

The TV show "Desparate Housewives" IMO is not as riske' as ABC (Awfully Bad Comedies) makes it to be, I see it as a prime-time "Soap Opera" with a humorous twist...Hell daytime soaps show much worse!

Aw Disney, I prey that Mickey Mouse chokes on some tainted cheese & f**kin dies!!!

Brian j.

I don't know, that last episode with the scrotum bit and premature ejaculation was pretty risque. :laugh:

And, if I'm not mistaken, it wasn't ABC who refused to air SPR, it was a lot of the affiliates. ABC still went ahead with it.

Kinda ironic...
 

but the SPR owned stations here arent even ABC affiliates, They are UPN/FOX affiliates so no-one is watchin' 'em anyways :lol:

Brian "No More Mr.Nice Guy" j.

As a child, I never ever stayed up past 9 unless it was a weekend, with no school, and I was watching supervised movie or something.

These KIDS who are allowed to watch Monday Night Football, which doesn't even start until 9...wtf?!

Desperate Housewives is SO tame. I haven't seen anything shocking. It's really tame and harmless and fun. My kids wouldn't be up anyway, it's on after 9.

It's ridiculous....so stupid. Parents need to take responsibility for their OWN kids....not blame everything else.

MNF is on at 8PM here in the Midwest, and it's on at 6PM on the West Coast, isn't it?

Football would be too violent for my kids to watch. I think it's much more detrimental to society for kids to see violent movies, etc, than a naked body, or sex.

As usual, I feel like I am living on a different planet. My TV hasn't been on for well over a week. And I work in television.
Has there been a national law passed that requires that children watch TV ?
No wonder a third of kids in this country are obese. Don't kids play sports, ride bikes, read, practice musical instruments, do homework, do chores, go to parks, or do anything but sit on their fat neglected butts all day long ? :shrug:

don't get me started, that's exactly what i would've wrote. I usually rant about this until i realized that in a lot of cities and stuff, kids can't go out and play quite as much :distress: But still. I didn't have a TV hardly at all between ages 0-10 (we had one for a bit when i was 8, and i watched on my bi-yearly visits to Grandma) and i just ran and played constantly. when i had to stay inside, or go somewhere boring with my mom, I read books. sometimes i would draw, or practice writing. But i just read books, all the time. :shrug: Aside from homework and chores. I mean, i couldn't wait to go outside and run my ass off all day long. I really don't think my child is going to have access to watching TV. My friends kid has a rule - no TV on the weekdays, and on weekends he can watch 3 hours (like, cartoons from 7-10 or 11) that seems really good. I might want my kid to watch educational and nature programs, which i remember we watched a ton of when we did have a TV.

I still would choose for my son, who's in the early stages of puberty, to be watching football instead of porn. :shrug: