Gratuitous nudity in this show is hilarious.....and sexy. The show stands on it's own as a mediocre western, but I guess since this was on Showtime in the 90's they had to throw in some nudity to gain a few extra viewers.
In the old west, nudity by women wasn't tolerated. Between the ages of 12 to about 50, most western women were never nude unless there was a big sandstorm or something. After that, they were kinda wrinkly and stuff, so they weren't so strict about it.
So, to sum it up in legal terminology: Get lost, you bum.
I just started to watch this about a year or so ago, and I can assure you that some of the episodes do have nudity. In fact, a few of them had some rather hot simulated sex scenes. In my opinion, the nudity and sex were not a welcomed addition to the shows. If I want to watch a western show, let it be a western show. If I want to see some naked women or watch someone perform sexual acts, I would rather rent a porno film.
I have been enjoying western stories for many years, and I would rather they be about cattle drives, shoot outs, or range wars rather than an excuse to see some naked folks. In spite of the nudity and sex scenes in some of these episodes, I must say that I have enjoyed the series and continue to watch. Sadly, however, I think I have now seen probably all of the episodes. All that are showing now are ones I have already seen.
It's an interesting show with interesting stories. If you happen to dislike the idea of nudity and sex scenes, just take a break for a minute or so. There are only a minimal number of the sexy shows, so if it bothers you, it should not be that often.
I have seen about half the episodes of this and there is some but not a ton of nudity. While it has never been graphic I do agree that it is pretty random and unnecessary to the story and the show would be better off without it.
NYPD Blue had already done as much or more on Broadcast 3+ years prior... so if they had the freedom and the actresses were OK, why wouldn't Showtime show some skin
It's hardly gratuitous, as I've been watching it on 'THIS TV' (digital sub channel) and while they blur it, the 'nudity' mostly amounts to butt cleavage (male and female) and side boob... a rare episode might have shown a upper frontal female but that is it...