Love scenes that were too controversial for TV – Nicki Swift

HBO'sGirls was never going to be family-friendly viewing, executive producer Judd Apatow told The Hollywood Reporter. "From the beginning, we were aware that what we were doing was sexually provocative" he said, adding, "Lena [Dunham, Girls creator] wanted to reveal something that is normally hidden so often you're not talking about a giant part of most people's lives because people don't want to portray it on film and that opened up tons of stories that you're usually not able to tell." There was very little that scared HBO executives, according to the show's creative team. "But then we had a scene with a conclusion shot ..." said Apatow.

Mike Lombardo, HBO's president of programming at the time said, "You don't need it," according to showrunner Jenni Konner, and the Girls team eventually found humor in it. "We were like, 'Oh my God, we've actually found the line at HBO,'" said Apatow. Size might have been the reason why the graphic scene, that involved a large volume of a certain bodily fluid "arcing through a shot," as Dunham described it, got the boot. "In HBO's defense, it was like a fire hose!" said Sue Naegle, former president of entertainment at HBO. It's not clear who the original scene featured, but they eventually filmed an acceptable "conclusion" shot during a scene featuring Adam Driver and Shiri Applby.

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Love scenes that were too controversial for TV - Nicki Swift