Summary

  • Shows with the most nudity are widely discussed for their raunchy content and boundary-pushing.
  • American broadcast networks face FCC regulations on nudity, but premium networks like HBO are known for it.
  • Popular shows like Game of Thrones and Euphoria feature graphic sex scenes and nudity, becoming less shocking over time.

The shows with the most nudity are among the most widely discussed in the history of TV, as many of them have caused a stir due to their raunchy content or pushing of boundaries. While in recent years nudity has become fairly regular on the small screen, the shows with the most nudity stand out for the notable amounts of nakedness. The first time American television audiences saw nudity in a scripted show came in 1973 with the quick shot of a male butt in M*A*S*H. By the 1980s, many shows began experimenting with female nudity, and eventually, premium networks like HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime became known for it.

Even with these movements toward sexual liberation, American broadcast networks were and still are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), prohibiting them from airing "acts of indecency" without receiving a hefty fine. In 2008, the FCC proposed a $1.43 million fine against ABC TV stations for showing a partially nude woman in a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue. However, free from the FCC's indecency and profanity regulations, it is no longer shocking to see nudity on TV shows. With shows like Game of Thrones bringing in millions of viewers, sex on TV is no longer as rare as it once was.

25 Banshee (2013–2016)

4 Seasons, 38 Episodes

Lucas and Ana walking in Banshee.
Banshee
Drama
Crime
Action

Release Date
January 11, 2013
Cast
Antony Starr , Lili Simmons , Frankie Faison , Ryann Shane , Ulrich Thomsen , Matt Servitto , Ivana Miličević , hoon lee
Seasons
4

Before he took the lead role as Homelander in the cast of The Boys, Anthony Starr was the lead in the Cinemax action series Banshee. Starr plays a man released from prison after serving 15 years for stealing diamonds for a Ukrainian mob boss. Since this man and his girlfriend kept the diamonds, he goes into hiding in a small town where he pretends to be Lucas Hood and takes on the role of the town sheriff. While an action drama, Banshee has a lot of nudity and graphic sex scenes, something that Cinemax was once known for. The show has multiple instances of nudity, usually happening at least once per episode.

Banshee is available to stream on Max.

24 Rome (2005-2007)

2 Seasons, 22 Episodes

Titus Pullo handing a woman a statue in Rome.
Rome

Release Date
August 28, 2005
Cast
Kevin McKidd , Ray Stevenson , Polly Walker
Seasons
2

Rome aired on HBO in the mid-2000s, a period when some of the highest-quality and critically acclaimed shows for the network were in production. This is a historical drama that is set in Rome as it transitions from a Republic to an Empire. It has a huge cast of characters and was a huge critical success itself, picking up 11 Emmy Awards in its two seasons on the air. It was also known early on in its run for its graphic nudity, although those moments lessened in the second season. It is not quite as gratuitous as Game of Thrones, but there are still a lot of male and female nudity and sex scenes in this HBO series.

Rome is available to stream on Max.

23 Euphoria (2019- )

2 Seasons, 18 Episodes

Euphoria
TV-MA
Drama

Release Date
June 16, 2019
Cast
Storm Reid , Jacob Elordi , Maude Apatow , Hunter Schafer , Zendaya , Barbie Ferreira , Alexa Demie , Nika King , Colman Domingo , Eric Dane , Sydney Sweeney , Angus Cloud , Algee Smith
Seasons
2

Euphoria has been a controversial show since it premiered on HBO, but that has not stopped it from being a ratings success for the cable service. What makes the show so controversial is that it approaches drug addiction, sex, and violence in a high school setting. Zendaya stars in the lead role as Rue, a teenage drug addict who returns from rehab but slips back into her old ways. There are overdoses, sexual assault, domestic violence, and more in the series, and the show pulls very few punches. There are also a lot of sex scenes and graphic nudity, often making the scenes uncomfortable to watch considering the situations.

Euphoria is available to stream on Max.

22 Westworld (2016-2022)

4 Seasons, 36 Episodes

HBO’s Westworld S5 Cut Costs Secretly Explain Netflix’s Cancellation Curse
Westworld
TV-MA
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Western

Release Date
October 2, 2016
Cast
Anthony Hopkins , Evan Rachel Wood , Shannon Woodward , Ed Harris , James Marsden , Jimmi Simpson , Jeffrey Wright , Tessa Thompson , Thandie Newton , Rodrigo Santoro
Seasons
4

Based on the 1973 movie of the same name, Westworld is an HBO series that sets up amusement parks filled with robots who take on the roles of actors that the visitors can then role-play with in various situations. In the first season, it was a Western-themed park, but as the seasons wore on, the story took on a dystopian sci-fi theme. The series was a critical success and won several Emmys for its cast and story. As an HBO series, there is also a lot of nudity, but these mostly occur in the first season, with the role-playing at the Western park featuring a lot of sex scenes. By the second season, these lessened considerably.

21 Harlots (2017-2019)

3 Seasons, 24 Episodes

Charlotte walking in Harlots

Harlots is a Hulu series that tells the story of brothels in London in the 1760s. Since this show took place mostly inside a brothel, there is a lot of nudity throughout the series. The story follows a specific brothel owned by Samantha Morton's Margaret Wells, a madam who fights for her rights as the brothel owner, battling the police, religious organizations, and more. There are a lot of sex scenes in the series, and this means there is a lot of nudity, both female breasts and both male and female from behind. However, this is a feminist series and does a lot to show the power of these women, never exploiting them with its nude scenes.

Harlots is available to stream on Hulu.

20 P-Valley (2020- )

2 Seasons, 18 Episodes

A club scene in P-Valley.
P-Valley
TV-MA
Drama

Release Date
July 12, 2020
Cast
Brandee Evans , Nicco Annan , Shannon Thornton , Skyler Joy , J. Alphonse Nicholson , Parker Sawyers , Harriett D. Foy , Dan J. Johnson , Tyler Lepley , Isaiah Washington
Seasons
2

P-Valley is a show that airs on Starz and adapts the Katori Hall play Pussy Valley. The show follows the lives of people who work at a club in Mississippi called The Pynk. It ended up as a monster success, and the series sits at 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The show mostly views the strippers' lives as they work in the club and all the trials and tribulations they go through. Because this takes place in a club environment, P-Valley is of course a TV show with a lot of nudity, but it is nothing graphic, and it mostly exists as part of the show's world. It might be excessive to some, but it never feels out of place or exploitative.

P-Valley is available to stream on Starz.

19 Vinyl (2016)

10 Episodes

Characters with their arms folded in Vinyl episode 8
Vinyl
Drama

Release Date
May 17, 2016
Cast
Bobby Cannavale , Olivia Wilde , James Jagger
Seasons
1

Vinyl is a TV series that aired on HBO and was created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, among others. It is a period drama that stars Bobby Cannavale as a record executive in the 1970s. The show only lasted for one season before HBO canceled it with just 10 episodes. The series focuses on the change from rock to punk and disco while showing the sex and drugs that were in excess during that era. Vinyl was also known for a full-frontal nude scene in the very first episode. There is also other nudity throughout, including topless women, but nothing overly explicit compared to many other TV shows that are heavy on nakedness.

18 Carnival Row (2019-2023)

2 Seasons, 18 Episodes

David Gyasi and Tamzin Merchant in Carnival Row season 2
Carnival Row
Drama
Crime
Fantasy

Release Date
August 30, 2019
Cast
Cara Delevingne , Jamie Harris , David Gyasi , Indira Varma , Andrew Gower , Orlando Bloom , Arty Froushan , Maeve Dermody , Karla Crome , Jared Harris , Waj Ali
Seasons
2

In 2019, Amazon Prime Video premiered its fantasy series Carnival Row. The series stars Orlando Bloom as a police detective who investigates a brutal murder that leads the police to suspect an immigrant to the city, a group of mythical creatures driven out of their homeland during a war. The regular humans hate them, and when dead bodies start piling up, it threatens to start more violence between the two groups. When it comes to the nudity in Carnival Row, there are many views of female nudity, both full-frontal and partial, and there are also sex scenes with nudity from behind for the men.

Carnival Row is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

17 The Deuce (2017-2019)

3 Seasons, 25 Episodes

Gary Carr in The Deuce
The Deuce
Drama

Release Date
August 25, 2017
Cast
James Franco , Maggie Gyllenhaal
Seasons
3

The Deuce is an HBO series with some big names in the starring roles. James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal headline the series, which is set in the 1970s and focuses on the drug epidemic ravaging New York City. Gyllenhaal plays Eileen, a former prostitute who used the name Candy Renee and decides to get started in the growing porn industry in NYC. Franco is both Vincent and Frankie, twin brothers who become fronts for the Mafia. The series was a success, with Gyllenhaal picking up a Golden Globes nomination. There is a great deal of nudity thanks to the porn plot, including full-frontal for men and women involved in sexual acts.

The Deuce is available to stream on Max.

16 Oz (1997-2003)

6 Seasons, 56 Episodes

Edie Falco in Oz on HBO
Oz
TV-MA
Crime
Drama

Release Date
February 23, 1997
Cast
Ernie Hudson , Terry Kinney , Harold Perrineau , Eamonn Walker , Kirk Acevedo , Rita Moreno , J. K. Simmons , Lee Tergesen , Dean Winters , Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Seasons
5

Premiering in 1997, Oz was one of HBO's first dramatic television shows, and it set the template for the critically-acclaimed shows that followed. Oz is a maximum security prison in New York and the series follows the inmates and prison guards through their lives there. The cast is phenomenal, with names like Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Kirk Asevedo, J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Rita Moreno, and more. The nudity is also excessive at times, but there is one big difference here. The nudity in Oz is almost exclusively graphic male nudity, with arguably more full-frontal male nudity than in any other television series in history.

Oz is available to stream on Max.

15 Sex and the City (1998-2004)

6 Seasons, 94 Episodes

Sex and the City
TV-MA
Romance
Comedy
Drama

Release Date
June 6, 1998
Cast
Kim Cattrall , Cynthia Nixon , Sarah Jessica Parker , Kristin Davis
Seasons
6

Sex and the City follows the personal and professional lives of four 30-something women in New York City. SATC was one of the first shows with explicitly sexual content, featuring both explicit sex scenes and unflinching dialogue discussing the realities of sex. Many of the graphic sex scenes feature Samantha Jones. While actress Kim Cattral often exposed her breasts, nudity in some of the more explicitly sexual scenes was often hidden by undergarments and carefully placed sheets. Sex and the City featured many topless female scenes that weren't created for the male gaze — a progressive moment in TV history — and there were plenty of male bare bottoms as well.

Sex and the City is available to stream on Max.

14 Entourage (2004-2011)

8 Seasons, 96 Episodes

The Entourage crew at a poker table in Las Vegas.

Entourage chronicles the acting career of Vincent Chase, a young A-list movie star, and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City. In earlier seasons, women's breasts were occasionally exposed. In later seasons, particularly season seven, topless women became much more prevalent. In one episode, a brief background shot of naked men was shown on a porn set. In another episode, full-frontal female nudity was displayed in a scene of adult film star Sasha Grey going skinny-dipping. Additionally, there was extensive nudity from behind throughout the seasons.

Entourage is available to stream on Max.

13 Queer as Folk (2000-2005)

5 Seasons, 83 Episodes

Characters lying in bed together in Queer as Folk

Based on the British series created by Russell T. Davies, Queer as Folk was the first hour-long drama series on American television to portray the lives of gay men and women. In order to portray gay relationships with realism, the actors had to sign a 21-page contract stipulating that they would appear nude in the show (via Huff Post). Critics praised Queer as Folk for portraying the most realistic sex scenes in film and TV history, and it was the first show to feature a simulated sex scene between two men. While the sex was not gratuitous, and there was no full-frontal nudity, many sex scenes looked and felt authentic.

Queer as Folk is available to stream on Paramount+.

12 Californication (2007-2014)

7 Seasons, 84 Episodes

Hank taking a selfie in Californication.
Californication
Drama

Release Date
August 13, 2007
Cast
David Duchovny , Madeleine Martin
Seasons
7

Californication follows Hank Moody, an L.A.-based novelist, struggling to overcome his sex addiction, as well as battling alcoholism and drug use. Californication featured explicit sex scenes with full female and partial male nudity. Sexual activity is realistically depicted, but explicit details are never shown onscreen. Bare breasts as well as both male and female butts are showcased throughout the series, and the show features all kinds of sexual experimentation throughout. The show became an instant target for the religious right, who successfully lobbied advertisers in Australia and New Zealand to cease their sponsorship of the show (via TV Tonight).

Californication is available to stream on Paramount+.

11 Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007-2011)

4 Seasons, 32 Episodes

Billie Piper on Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous "Belle de Jour," Secret Diary of a Call Girl follows Hanna Baxter, a high-class prostitute in London. The main humor derives from the odd sexual requests that Hannah receives from her clients. For example, one client asks her to refer to herself as different barnyard animals, such as a goat and pig; another client wants to wrestle sumo-style before doing the deed. While there is an abundance of sex in Secret Diary, viewers are only privy to partial nudity, albeit there is a lot of it, including bare breasts and bottoms.

10 True Blood (2008-2014)

7 Seasons, 80 Episodes

true blood
Drama
Supernatural
Horror
Romance
Thriller
Fantasy

Release Date
September 7, 2008
Cast
Ryan Kwanten , Kristin Bauer van Straten , Sam Trammell , Alexander Skarsgard , Stephen Moyer , Rutina Wesley , Anna Paquin , Chris Bauer
Seasons
7

True Blood details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small town in northwestern Louisiana. Throughout the series, the audience viewed several sex acts, including bondage, threesomes, girl-on-girl and boy-on-boy action, orgies, and more. The sex scenes throughout the show are plentiful and raunchy. True Blood received criticism for the amount of gratuitous female nudity it reveals while allowing for little representation of the male front. In its six seasons, there are only two instances of the full male form. Despite this, the show won a Golden Globe and an Emmy during its seven-season run.

True Blood is available to stream on Max.

9 Spartacus (2010-2013)

3 Seasons, 39 Episodes

Spartacus holding two swords in front of his army in Spartacus
Spartacus
Drama

Release Date
January 25, 2013
Cast
nick tarabay , Liam McIntyre , Peter Mensah , Viva Bianca , Lucy Lawless , Andy Whitfield , Manu Bennett
Seasons
3

Spartacus is based loosely on the Thracian gladiator, who from 73 to 71 BCE led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic, departing from Capua. The series was short-lived, airing its last season in 2013. But it made its mark in TV history with an abundance of swords, savagery, and sex. Unlike many shows on premium channels, Spartacus featured full-frontal nudity from both women and men — and the number of instances was pretty equal. In fact, for some characters, including males, it was a rarity to be clothed at all. Full-frontal male nudity is often the norm for this show.

Spartacus is available to stream on Starz.

8 Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

8 Seasons, 73 Episodes

Game Of Thrones
Drama
Action
Adventure

Release Date
April 11, 2011
Cast
Emilia Clarke , Lena Headey , Richard Madden , Michelle Fairley , Kit Harington , Maisie Williams , Alfie Allen , Peter Dinklage
Seasons
8

The amount of nudity in Game of Thrones was plentiful, but many scenes in the series leave the viewer feeling uneasy rather than titillated, unlike other HBO shows like Sex and the City or Entourage. Game of Thrones was repeatedly scrutinized for its gratuitous nudity and violence against women, and full-frontal nudity is common with women, which is most often depicted in the brothel scenes. While there are plenty of brazen nude scenes showcased throughout the series, the "Walk of Shame" rivals them all. In the season five finale, the fallen queen, Cersie, has to walk naked (full-frontal and back) through the streets of King's Landing.

Game of Thrones is available to stream on Max.

7 Shameless (2011-2021)

11 Seasons, 134 Episodes

Shameless
Comedy
Drama

Release Date
January 9, 2011
Cast
William H. Macy , Jeremy Allen White , Justin Chatwin , Ethan Cutkosky , Joan Cusack , Emmy Rossum , Emma Kenney , Cameron Monaghan , Noel Fisher , Steve Howey , Shanola Hampton
Seasons
11

A remake of an award-winning British series, Shameless tells the story of Frank Gallagher, the father of six children, who spends his days drunk and high while his kids learn to take care of themselves. It's up to the eldest daughter Fiona to provide for the family. Nude scenes are a common occurrence in Shameless, and the show is unapologetic in its depiction of teenage sexuality. Eldest Gallagher Fiona (Emmy Rossum) is the character who is most commonly nude in the show. Making the sex look real was important to Rossum, who wasn't afraid of signing a contract stipulating nudity (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Shameless is available to stream on Netflix.

6 Girls (2012-2017)

6 Seasons, 62 Episodes

Lena Dunham in Girls.
Girls
Comedy

Release Date
April 17, 2012
Cast
Lena Dunham , Adam Driver , Allison Williams
Seasons
6

Girls follows the lives of a close group of 20-somethings living in New York City. While the show has a similar overarching storyline to Sex and the City, Girls is much more sexually explicit. There are no boundaries to the amount of time the main character, Hannah, spends naked in the show. It is not even about sex, as she has eaten cake, played ping-pong, talked on the phone, and even more while nude. Lena Dunham has stated in response to critics that the nudity actively adds authenticity as well as defies gender stereotypes - and if you don't like her body, then that's their problem (via NBC News).

Girls is available to stream on Max.