Posted on 11/15/2003 10:08:05 PM PST by ServesURight
Pornography making its way onto mainstream TV screens
By ERIC DEGGANS St. Petersburg Times - Scripps Howard News Service
November 12, 2003
Ask "gentleman pornographer" Clive McLean for the biggest sign that mainstream TV outlets are tapping the porn industry more than ever, and he won't talk about the time E! Entertainment Television's "The Anna Nicole Show" visited one of his photo shoots for Hustler magazine's "Barely Legal" imprint.
Or his appearance last year at the beginning of PBS' "Frontline" documentary on the trade, "American Porn." Instead, he'll talk about the latest TV outlet to document his curiously domesticated work life.
In "The AMC Project: I Want to Be Clive McLean," independent filmmaker Peter Mattei shadows McLean, a veteran porn photographer and video director whose "Barely Legal" film and magazine series has reportedly earned $10 million for porn king Larry Flynt's Hustler empire. The film, airing at 9 p.m. Monday, visits McLean's expansive California ranch and explores his near-30-year career on a cable network once known as a haven for old-school film icons such as Steve McQueen, Cary Grant and Lauren Bacall.
"I think they would have run a mile from this subject matter. ... They wouldn't have touched it five or six years ago," said McLean of the network, which has recently recast itself as a showcase for edgy documentaries and films such as "Halloween 2" and "Alien Resurrection." "Because of (films) like 'Boogie Nights,' HBO's 'Sex and the City' and 'Real Sex' ... people realize (the subject is) a great source of entertainment."
And money. Because an industry that earns an estimated $10 billion annually has to have more than a few fans with Nielsen ratings boxes on their TVs and disposable income for advertisers' wares.
"I think it's proven that sex equals ratings. ... So everybody's trying to find a unique way to package sex with some other vehicle and bring it to the public," said Adam Glasser, a porn director and actor better known as Seymore Butts. "It's part of the natural evolution of TV. Lines are continuously drawn in the sand, and those lines are continuously crossed."
Glasser's unconventional work and home life, which includes running a porn empire with his mother and cousin, has been turned into a successful reality show for Showtime, "Family Business." Now beginning a second season with the premium cable network, Glasser is blunt about porn's appeal to more conventional TV programmers.
"It's all about money," he said, noting that "Family Business' " premiere this year - produced by the people behind CBS's "Big Brother" series - was the highest-rated nonspecial event in Showtime's history.
"Look at how Fox has built its brand on edgy programming featuring violence and sexual overtones. It just so happens my life is a perfect vehicle for some of that."
Beyond McLean's and Glasser's projects, the list of porn-related projects on mainstream TV is becoming extensive.
This season's high-profile project was Fox's new series from "CSI" producer Jerry Bruckheimer, "Skin," starring Ron Silver as a Bob Guccione-style pornographer who is more ethical and a better family man than the district attorney trying to incarcerate him. However, it was plagued by bad ratings, and Fox canceled it Monday.
Porn star Ron Jeremy is filming the WB's reality show "The Surreal Life 2," in which he lives in a house over 11 days with D-list celebrities that include former evangelist Tammy Faye (Bakker) Messner and rapper Vanilla Ice. Jeremy said the show's producers asked him to participate in the series after watching him on the game show "Weakest Link."
While running as a candidate in California's gubernatorial recall election, porn star Mary Carey appeared on a host of mainstream media outlets, including "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Fox News Channel, CBS' "The Early Show" and Los Angeles WB affiliate KTLA, where she delivered a newscast weather report. Carey is now to host a pay-per-view reality show in which 28 women will compete for a contract as a porn actor.
HBO is filming a six-part documentary on the porn scene in "California's San Fernando Valley," dubbed "Pornucopia." Porn stars Jenna Jameson, Traci Lords and Ginger Lynn Allen have their own "E! True Hollywood Story" episodes and have had guest roles in mainstream TV shows, including "Mister Sterling," "Profiler," "Gilmore Girls" and "First Wave."
TV's fascination with erotica is nothing new. Hugh Hefner starred in a TV show called "Playboy After Dark" in the '60s.
"I just think people are fascinated with this," said Melody Fox, a writer on Fox's "Skin." "If I tell people, 'Oh, I just had lunch with Jenna Jameson,' everyone knows who she is. (Pornographers) say they're making billions of dollars in profit. Even if people don't think it's in the mainstream, there just aren't that many guys in raincoats."
As far as I am concerned, they already do.
I long ago switched off CBS/NBC/ABC for cable channels like TLC/TDC/HC/Travel/NG etc.
It looks like Mary may have been the biggest winner in the recall election, she becomes a tv star, and makes lots of money without having to contend with the problems caused by Davis' mismanagement
Stay Safe !
The actual number is high, certainly a few billion, but according to the expert analysis by a reputable accounting firm Sullivan cited, the math that adduces $10 billion per year to the industry is just another porno fantasy.
I'm with you. Except for the occasional sports Championship, I haven't watched "network" TV for years.
It'sa real hoot...
SR
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