Does television need to get spicier?
The Daily Beast’s Joanna Coles shared her take on TV’s sex scenes, and the dearth of any such standout scenes in recent years.
In a new episode of Obsessed: The Podcast, Coles and host Kevin Fallon discussed the success and explosion of HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry—largely because, as Fallon noted, of the show’s graphic sex scenes.
“Well, there’s not much that much sex on television right now that people enjoy,” Coles responded. “I think one of the things that is missing from television right now are really great sex scenes.”
Coles—former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine—said that the portrayal of sex on screen has changed from what it used to be a few decades ago.
“There was a sort of period in the 80s and 90s, which I know dates me, which was full of big Hollywood blockbuster movies where people had sexy sex,” she declared. “And now I think a lot of sex, partly post–Me Too, is about survival. It’s about surviving sex, it’s about sex as a negative influence, it’s about sex as a tool of power.
“Actually, I think a lot of people think, well, ‘why aren’t there just shows about the thing that sex is great at, which is giving you a good time?’ It’s free, and it’s kind of healing,” she said. “You know, the best thing to do if you’ve had a row with your boyfriend or your husband or your wife is just to have great sex, make-up sex. It’s the best. It’s free. It’s fun.”
Fallon and Coles discussed the generational gap when it comes to on-screen sex, hypothesizing that younger generations have a different outlook toward the subject. Fallon said that younger generations, like Gen-Z, claim they don’t want to see sex on television, according to recent studies. Nearly 50 percent of respondents in UCLA’s 2025 Teens & Screens report said that there is “too much sex and sexual content in TV and movies.”
“Well, I think that’s because a lot of them are still watching television with their parents,” Coles postulated. “And I think they have a lot of access to porn online, so they have a different relation to it visually, and maybe it’s to do with the fact there just haven’t been enough good storytelling around sex and fun sex and sexy sex.”
These films from the 80s and 90s, Coles said, include Barry Levinson’s Disclosure, Adrian Lyne’s Basic Instinct, and Paul Verhoeven’s Fatal Attraction. Michael Douglas stars in all three films. Coles pointed out Demi Moore’s performance in Disclosure and Sharon Stone’s role in Basic Instinct.
“Demi Moore in ‘Disclosure’ was just outrageous,” she said. “Or ‘Fatal Attraction,’ which didn’t end well, I’ll admit. But the affair they had – do you remember the scene in the elevator – was fantastic.”
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