Pulled into a very wide net

Janet JACKSON’S bare breast was one thing. But for a real sign of how sensitive the broadcast indecency issue has become, consider the case of Raquel Smashenburn.

The sight of her bare bottom was too much for executives at UPN, who ordered it obscured in the first episode of their new sitcom “Game Over.” Oh, and for the millions who didn’t see it, Raquel is an animated character.

Hoping to avoid millions of dollars in fines and protect their licenses, the networks’ gatekeepers are now rushing to cover naked body parts, cut foul language and monitor anything that smacks of poor taste ... except when they’re not. The only consistent thread running through the current crackdown -- which has ensnared culprits ranging from a chronic provocateur like ousted radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge to an accidental offender like NBC’s “ER” -- is how wildly inconsistent it all seems.

ABC’s venerable “NYPD Blue” had to darken one of its trademark sex scenes, yet cops still utter one common barnyard epithet every episode, and the bloody corpses pile up. Radio giant Clear Channel Radio dropped Howard Stern’s show from six stations, citing its “inappropriate material”; Viacom’s Mel Karmazin, Stern’s employer, told a U.S. senator that Stern’s show “does not fall within the ... indecency definition.” MTV, which produced the Super Bowl halftime show in which Jackson’s wardrobe “malfunctioned,” has relegated some racy videos to late-night hours, yet FX’s gritty, often obscene cop drama “The Shield” is back for its third season in prime time.

In 2001, NBC chief Bob Wright sent a memo to TV executives urging them to ponder the long-term effects of HBO’s “The Sopranos.” For all the series’ success, Wright wrote, “we could not and would not air [the show] on NBC because of the violence, language and nudity.”

Staking a position is one thing, but withstanding the audience erosion caused by cable’s aggressive programming is something else. Since Wright’s memo surfaced, NBC has aired “Kingpin,” a hard-hitting series about a Mexican drug lord, as well as envelope-pushing unscripted series such as “Fear Factor” and “Meet My Folks.”

Stern has used his show to decry what he calls censorship in the culture. But it’s important to note that at least so far, the media companies are censoring themselves -- mostly from fear that the indecency debate will end up affecting their balance sheets. As always, it’s the bottom line -- and not so much a naked bottom -- that gets the attention of the big media companies.

-- Scott Collins

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Caught in the maelstrom:

Josh Schwartz

Creator and executive producer, Fox’s “The O.C.”

Busted for: Attempted sexual relations between Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) and Marissa (Mischa Barton).

Punishment: Ryan and Marissa engaged in some grab-fanny last November but, post-Janet Jackson, were told by Fox to chill; the TV couple will stay celibate through the end of the season. Some double-entendres have been scrapped too.

Prior offenses: Quick snippets of hot tub threesomes, background cocaine use, underage keg parties.

His reaction: “It’s kind of scary what’s going on now. But the show was never going to be about drugs or sex. Because you can never get away with that much on network television anyway.”

Going forward: “We’ve had to pull back on some of the more extreme behavior the kids do over the course of the season. There’s not nearly as much drinking. There’s not nearly as much drug use.”

What else: “I still can’t believe that we got away with this, but in the pilot, our hero and heroine, Ryan and Marissa, bonded over a cigarette. It was true to the characters, but something we were never going to be allowed to do again.”

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‘Raquel Smashenburn’

Character on “Game Over,” a UPN prime-time series

Busted for: The March 10 premiere of this computer-generated, animated sitcom featured a female character’s bare backside.

Punishment: Network executives forced the producers to blur the image.

The reaction: The producers were reportedly not pleased but declined to comment. The network likewise declined to comment. But then, few people noticed anyway; that debut episode attracted fewer than 2 million viewers.

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Tyra Banks

Creator and executive producer, UPN’s “America’s Next Top Model”

Busted for: A March 16 “orgy episode” that depicted four female contestants engaged in a late-night tryst with men in Milan, Italy.

Punishment: UPN reportedly ordered the producers to cut certain scenes deemed “inappropriate for broadcast.” But as one of UPN’s biggest hits, it has been renewed for two more seasons.

Her reaction: Banks wouldn’t comment for this story. But she told Conan O’Brien in January that the women “were doing the nasty ... I don’t want to say ‘orgy’ -- but I just said it.”

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John Wells

Executive producer, NBC’s “ER”

Busted for: A Feb. 5 episode of the hospital drama contained a glimpse of an 80-year-old patient’s breast.

Punishment: Under pressure from its affiliate stations, NBC forced the producers to obscure the shot.

His reaction: “The incidental exposure of an elderly woman’s breast in the context of a medical trauma is not comparable” to Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl, he said in a statement.

Going forward: Wells also said such pressure is why “so many of today’s producers and viewers are increasingly turning to HBO and other cable outlets that do not censor responsible storytelling.”

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JC Chasez

Pop singer

Busted for: What were deemed offensive lyrics.

Punishment: Dropped as a performer at the halftime show for the NFL’s Pro Bowl Feb. 8, one week after the Super Bowl. NFL officials worried that the song he was scheduled to sing, “Blowin’ Me Up (With Her Love),” would be too provocative with such lines as: “She was leaning on me / Getting horny / Maybe we’ll get naughty.”

Prior offenses: None

His reaction: “The NFL’s shallow effort to portray my music as sexually indecent brings to mind another era when innocent artists were smeared with a broad brush by insecure but powerful people,” Chasez said in a statement he released after being dumped.

What else: The NFL said Chasez could sing the national anthem at the Pro Bowl. He declined, saying, “That’s not the America I love. Nor is this the NFL I love.”

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Sandra Tsing Loh

Humorist, author and creator of “The Loh Life” commentaries that aired for six years on public radio’s KCRW-FM (89.9)

Busted for: Using the F-word in a pre- recorded Feb. 29 commentary about her star-struck admiration for Bette Midler and her musician husband’s onstage proximity to the singer.

Prior offenses: None

Punishment: Station manager Ruth Seymour fired Loh on March 1, saying her use of the word might endanger the station’s license and/or result in heavy fines.

Punishment reconsidered: After an outpouring of support from fans and friends in the media, several cause

celebre interviews and a conversation with Loh’s engineer in which Seymour says she learned he was supposed to bleep her comments for comic effect, Seymour offered to rehire Loh, in a better time slot. Loh refused, citing a “toxic environment” at the station.

Her reaction: “It wasn’t exactly a free-speech issue since I didn’t intend to say that. Now I’m a free-speech pioneer along with Lenny Bruce.”

Going forward: On Tuesday, KCRW’s crosstown rival, KPCC-FM (89.3),

announced it had hired Loh, who’ll start at the Pasadena station in June. KCRW, meanwhile, shot back at Loh, claiming she’s not as innocent as she’s been portrayed.

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Chronic offenders

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Howard Stern

Syndicated talk-radio personality

Busted for: Lewd talk

Punishment: Clear Channel Radio removed Stern from six stations after he allowed a guest to utter a racial epithet on his Feb. 23 broadcast. On March 18, the FCC fined his employer, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., for a 2001 broadcast. He remains on about three dozen other stations.

Prior offenses: One broadcasting research group estimates that half of all FCC fines for broadcast indecency since 1990 -- about $2 million -- have been assessed against Stern.

His reaction: He claims that Clear Channel acted after he began attacking President Bush and urging the election of Sen. John Kerry. “They thought this would be a good political issue, to keep everyone distracted from what’s happening in the Bush administration,” he said on a recent show.

Going forward: Has threatened to quit broadcast radio and take his show to the less-regulated satellite radio services if Congress passes legislation drastically increasing maximum fines for indecency.

What else: Compares his agony to “Jesus on the cross, having his skin pulled.”

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Steven Bochco

Executive producer and co-creator, ABC’s “NYPD Blue”

Busted for: A steamy sex scene between “Blue” costars Esai Morales and Jacqueline Obradors on the March 2 episode. After 11 seasons of partial nudity and strong language on the series, ABC censors struck.

Punishment: ABC darkened the scene to obscure certain body parts.

His reaction: After ABC asked him to alter the scene, Bochco compiled a highlight reel of previous episodes when “Blue” had shown at least as much skin. “I’m disregarding them and doing the show to the same standards and rules we established 11 years ago,” he says.

Going forward: “I don’t know if [this] is a battle you can win these days.” On the other hand, he doesn’t think the current climate will suppress television for long. “Inevitably, even kicking and screaming, the medium does get pulled into the future,” he says.

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Bubba the Love Sponge

Radio personality

Busted for: Airing seven conversations in 2001 from cartoon characters like Scooby Doo in which they spoke about sexual acts including masturbation and described in detail a male’s genitals. Some of these conversations were, according to the FCC, “inserted between advertisements for Cartoon Network’s Friday night cartoons that are identified as ‘provocative adult cartoons to help you get your freak on.’ ” Dialogue included Alvin the Chipmunk complaining that he hadn’t had sex in almost six weeks.

Punishment: Clear Channel fired Bubba on Feb. 24, after the FCC imposed a $755,000 fine against the company -- the steepest fine ever levied against a broadcaster by the commission.

Prior offenses: In 1998 the FCC fined Bubba (whose birth certificate reads Todd Clem) $23,000 for indecent material that stemmed from several segments aired in 1997 and 1998 that included descriptions of enemas, child molestation, prison rape and a fictitious serenade between President Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In February 2000, Clem broadcast from the studio a stunt in his station’s parking lot in which three other men castrated and killed a boar during the station’s “Roadkill Barbecue” show. Clem and his cohorts pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges. On Feb. 28, 2002, all four men were acquitted.

His reaction: “I am deeply saddened and confused by the actions of Clear Channel,” he said in a statement posted on his website Feb. 26. “I have always striven to be a responsible broadcaster and entertainer. The success of my shows, my deep involvement in the community ... fully attests to that belief.”

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Provocateurs

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Bono

Lead singer of U2

Busted for: Using the F-word while accepting a Golden Globe Award on Jan. 19, 2003, for U2’s song “The Hands That Built America.”

Punishment: None yet. On March 18 of this year, the FCC deemed the singer-activist’s comment “indecent,” overturning an earlier ruling by its enforcement bureau. No fines were imposed against the singer or NBC.

Prior offenses: None.

His reaction: “You can always cause a stir with an expletive, and it’s not something that I’m conscious of.... I don’t mean to offend anyone,” he told Reuters.

Going forward: “I swear I won’t swear,” Bono told Reuters before this year’s Golden Globes.

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Janet Jackson

Pop singer

Busted for: Exposing her right breast on national television during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII on Feb. 1.

Punishment: Lost her spot as a presenter on the annual Grammy Awards telecast one week later. CBS instituted a five-minute video and audio delay for the Grammy telecast. She’s also out of the running to portray Lena Horne in an ABC-TV movie about the singer’s life.

Prior offenses: Sexually provocative song lyrics, music videos and album covers. In 1993, Jackson appeared topless on the cover of Rolling Stone, her then-husband’s hands strategically covering her breasts.

Her reaction: Tearful videotaped apology. In her first interview on the subject, printed in Ebony magazine’s April issue, Jackson says: “It was not intentional. It was a costume accident ... That was basically it.”

Going forward: Her new album, “Damita Jo,” is due Tuesday and is widely expected to enter the national sales chart at No. 1. (Review on Page E-44.) The cover photo shows Jackson from the side, nude from the waist up, her arms crossed over her chest. She has appearances slated for Monday on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman” and subsequently on ABC’s “Good Morning America” -- which will use a five-second audio and video delay -- Fox’s as well as “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

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Justin Timberlake

Pop singer

Busted for: Ripping the bodice off Jackson’s outfit during the Super Bowl performance.

Punishment: Reportedly required to apologize during the Grammy Awards broadcast to keep his role as a performer.

Prior offenses: None

His reaction: “I know it’s been a rough week on everybody,” he said on the Grammy telecast. “What occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable, and I apologize if you guys are offended.”

Going forward: Recently backed out of co-hosting ABC-TV’s “Motown 45” anniversary special, which will be taped on April 4 in Los Angeles and air May 3. Timberlake says it is because he is too busy working on his first movie, not because of criticism over his role in the Super Bowl incident or flak he got because he is white and never recorded for Motown.

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And yet, life goes on

OK, so there’s a decency crusade raging through the airwaves. Yet in keeping with the seeming arbitrariness of the current media crackdown, there is no shortage of opportunities to see or hear programming that pushes the taste boundaries. Consider these examples:

Violence: USA Network, a basic cable service that reaches nearly 90 million homes, aired the first 10 minutes of Universal Pictures’ “Dawn of the Dead” on March 15, a teaser for the sister studio’s very bloody horror remake. And USA’s new series “Touching Evil” debuted March 12 with a protagonist who has been shot in the head; plots haven’t really calmed down since.

Profanity: Amid the usual intra-judge bickering on “American Idol” last Tuesday, cameras caught Simon Cowell with his head on his right hand, just the middle finger extended. It was accidental, he said in a release: “I certainly would never make a gesture like that toward Paula or on national television.”

Sex: VH1’s breakfast-time show has been airing Britney Spears’ “Toxic” video, featuring the singer as a flight attendant introducing a passenger to the mile-high club, and also writhing around in a skin-toned body suit with strategically placed spangles.

Nudity: Perpetually addled rocker Courtney Love revisited her stripping past, showing up on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” March 17 and blurting “FCC!” as she raised her top for the nonplused host. Maybe it’s because the show aired so late at night or because Love was shot from behind. Either way, it generated much more head scratching over Love’s antics than outrage over her skin baring, perhaps a sign that the nation has moved on.

Staff writers Scott Collins, Lynn Smith, Randy Lewis, John Horn and Bob Baker, as well as Times researcher Scott Wilson and contributor Dana Calvo, contributed to this report.