Before There Were Wardrobe Malfunctions...

In the early days of television, PBS was the the only station that aired mild nudity in its programs via documentaries or films that warranted such context. In 1977, when ABC aired Roots, a story of slavery in the south, a number of African-American women were shone topless to lend to the reality of the storyline. This happened in 1980 as well when the made-for-TV movie Gauguin, the story of artist Paul Gauguin, showed full-frontal female nudity.

However, in 1983, Steven Bochco's baseball drama on NBC, Bay City Blues was the first to show male actors nude in a locker room scene.