This fall on the networks: Sex and swearing (THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione

This fall, TV is gonna look a whole lot racier. The trend, notes The Hollywood Reporter, has been a long time coming and now it's accelerating. The report comes on the heels of an appeals court decision which struck down the FCC's regulations on indecency for being "unconstitutionally vague."

Look for couples to do it on "Friends With Benefits"; Kathy Bates to smoke pot on "Harry's Law" and the CBS sitcom "$#*! My Dad Says" to push some verbal boundaries.

Andrew Schwartzman, head of the Media Access Project, told THR: "There's no question that this decision is going to mean more (sexual content on television)."

One longtime network standards expert told THR: "We have been living in an unbelievable netherworld of ambiguity and uncertainty with an amazing backlog of cases pending, when the culture, our society as a whole, has moved on. This new ruling, if it's upheld, lifts a cloud of uncertainty. It will make it easier to interpret the rules and not have to second-guess everything we want to put on air."

But how much will things really shift?

Official word this week from the major networks is that their policies toward indecency and profanity won't change.

Still, given competition from cable (not under the FCC's purview), some broadcast execs must be salivating at the idea of being able to push the limits.

THR has more here.