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One Foot On the Floor
Chronicles the issue of sex in televison from the 1950s censorship of vulgarity to the present on-air sex scenes, and explores how every decade has addressed the need to attract viewers without offending the general audience.
- GenresNonfiction
Hardcover
First published November 1, 2000
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About the author
Louis Chunovic
18 books1 followerA veteran journalist and published author, Louis Chunovic has reported on the media industry for more than two decades, and during that time has covered national political conventions, media mergers and acquisitions and new media technologies.
Chunovic also is the former on-air Entertainment Reporter for KTTV, Fox Broadcasting, in Los Angeles. He has appeared on CNBC, CNN and NPR, as well as on many other television and radio outlets, and has been quoted by The New York Times and Congressional Quarterly, among others. He lives in the New York City area with his wife.
Chunovic also is the former on-air Entertainment Reporter for KTTV, Fox Broadcasting, in Los Angeles. He has appeared on CNBC, CNN and NPR, as well as on many other television and radio outlets, and has been quoted by The New York Times and Congressional Quarterly, among others. He lives in the New York City area with his wife.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 13, 2022
"[The soap opera] scene had to be staged so that only one actor was 'in' bed at any one time, while the other performer, only half in, kept one foot on the floor . . . [this odd] prohibition was derived partly from one of the censorship practices and principles first established in the Hays Code, which governed theatrical motion pictures from 1930 to 1968." -- an explanation of the book's title, on page 98
Although now dated in content - with its summer 2000 publication date, the author gives only a passing mention to the growing trend of 'reality TV' taking over the regular networks' schedules in a brief section of the final chapter, and of course 'streaming' is only a conjecture at the time - the somewhat informative One Foot on the Floor was a sometimes-humorous and lightly detailed look at implied, depicted, and/or banned sexual activity on U.S. daytime and primetime shows from the 50's through the 90's. From character Lucy Ricardo's sitcom pregnancy (although 'that' word could not be spoken aloud at the time of original broadcast in 1953) to the regular kinkiness portrayed on the then-popular dramedy Ally McBeal, author Chunovic covers some boundaries pushed or trounced on TV series such as Peyton Place, M*A*S*H, Cheers, Seinfeld and many more. But I have to subtract at least one star in rating, though, for a few of his errors on the revolutionary serialized police drama Hill Street Blues - the show's beloved / remembered early catchphrase was "Let's be careful out there"!
Although now dated in content - with its summer 2000 publication date, the author gives only a passing mention to the growing trend of 'reality TV' taking over the regular networks' schedules in a brief section of the final chapter, and of course 'streaming' is only a conjecture at the time - the somewhat informative One Foot on the Floor was a sometimes-humorous and lightly detailed look at implied, depicted, and/or banned sexual activity on U.S. daytime and primetime shows from the 50's through the 90's. From character Lucy Ricardo's sitcom pregnancy (although 'that' word could not be spoken aloud at the time of original broadcast in 1953) to the regular kinkiness portrayed on the then-popular dramedy Ally McBeal, author Chunovic covers some boundaries pushed or trounced on TV series such as Peyton Place, M*A*S*H, Cheers, Seinfeld and many more. But I have to subtract at least one star in rating, though, for a few of his errors on the revolutionary serialized police drama Hill Street Blues - the show's beloved / remembered early catchphrase was "Let's be careful out there"!
May 30, 2015
A fairly comprehensive albeit out-of-date account of the history of the medium of television and its inclusion of content of a sexual nature. This includes not just the act but utterances of anything that could possibly be derived from "it", in addition to mentions of the hypocrisy within (for example, what constitutes "too nude" in TV's different eras, including the forbidden Barbara Eden's navel). This book spans from the 1940s to the year 2000 and includes a wide range of programming: The Ed Sullivan Show, I Love Lucy, Peyton Place, The Avengers, All In The Family, I Dream of Jeannie, The Cosby Show, Action, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, Mad About You, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Roseanne, Married with Children, The Ugly George Show, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, news programs, and a range of soap operas, to name just a mere few of the titles included here. One Foot on the Floor is scholarly entertainment (or researched infotainment, if you will) at its finest. I very much enjoyed the read and anyone interested in social history and mores of the times, human sexuality, or media studies will probably enjoy it, too.
January 8, 2019
This book is a basic rundown of the history of sex on TV. It doesn't go much into the censorship as such, other than pointing out moments that outraged certain groups. For a book that's less than 200 pages, there's a good amount of filler with several pages dedicated to recaps of various episodes of MASH, Cheers, etc. It would be an okay broad overview if it wasn't out of date by nearly 20 years. The world has changed immensely since then, not having the ability to mention 9/11, Family Guy, Janet Jackson, etc. Overall this book isn't terrible, but it's a basic read with a lot of unnecessary filler. There's probably better, more recent and more comprehensive books out this. You can skip this one and just do a brief Wikipedia read for most of the info covered here.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews