"They go after a lot of topics many people would never touch with a 10-foot pole," says Pener. "And I hear people talking about it constantly. People stay home to watch, or tape it and pass around tapes. I think for better or worse we're coming out of an era when people were really worried and scared of sex. And the show is a positive force in terms of opening up certain subjects and making them easier to talk about." He laughs. "I mean, I can't imagine that we're going to see any fisting on the show. But, hey, maybe I missed that episode."

Fisting or no fisting, "Sex and the City" is adept at pushing TV's limits, serving up a degree of nudity usually reserved for Spice Channel writhings. Although Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon are the only two leads to bare their bods (Parker and Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte, have a no-nudity clause in their contracts), the show's producers have relied on an apparently endless supply of young New York actresses eager to show their birthday suits -- the season's third episode features no fewer than five fully frontally nude women. In fact, the nude-and-silent female seems such a "Sex and the City" staple that at times the show resembles scenes from Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut," without the masks and incense.

But where's the beef? After two seasons of female flashing and risqué behavior, some viewers have begun to wonder where the wood is. Sure, boy butts have made appearances (in fact, Corbett says he'll be baring his in a future episode), but they're no big deal: Mel Gibson's been flashing his forever. How can a show about women and sex, particularly one about their fascination with and need for men, not show a single shaft?

"American television is the most prudish in the world," sighs sex and relationship therapist Mira Kirshenbaum, author of "Women & Love" and another "Sex and the City" devotee. "But in this country, a naked woman shown frontally is art. A naked man frontally is porno." True, but this is not TV, this is HBO, the channel known for its "Real Sex" series, the channel that last year produced and aired a documentary all about penises called "Private Dicks." (Full disclosure: This reporter worked on the film.) So, again, we ask, where's the beef? "That's a very good question," says one HBO executive, who asked not to be named. "We've aired 'Boogie Nights' countless times, including the Marky Mark money shot, so you'd think there'd be an occasional dick in 'Sex and the City,' if only in the episodes that are focused on them. But you only see penises in arty French films, and we don't air arty French films."

"The penis is like the Wizard of Oz," explains "Private Dicks" producer/director Meema Spadola. "It's like, 'Do not look at the great and terrible Oz!' Like the Wizard, the penis can never measure up to the image we have in our minds."

Spadola, who also directed a documentary called "Breasts" for the cable channel, says HBO "totally supported" the nudity in "Private Dicks," but that "in reality, documentaries are treated very differently from fiction. We're allowed to be a little bit more risqué. But I hope the producers of 'Sex and the City' will step on up."

"They might as well," adds Sohn, "after doing those ads with Sarah Jessica wearing that dress. She looks like she's getting fucked by the Empire State Building!"

We can't imagine HBO has plans to pair Parker with a live New York skyscraper, but, in addition to her multi-episode romance with Corbett, there will be a romance blossoming between characters played by Davis and Kyle MacLachlan (himself no stranger to unusual erotic encounters on-screen).

Reports also claim a pregnancy for one of the characters is scheduled for later this season, as well as a wedding, and Chris Noth's Mr. Big will make a return appearance. And even though this Sunday's "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl" episode features a female-on-female kiss, things may calm down a bit -- emphasis on the "bit."

"As the season progresses you can expect to see episodes more focused on relationships," says a recently departed member of the production team. "But the raciness won't go away. I mean, Samantha will still have a nude scene in almost every episode."

Recent Stories