Cleaned Up ‘Sea’

For its Feb. 5 airing of the steamy murder mystery “Sea of Love,” CBS is making much about new scenes that didn’t make the 1989 theatrical cut.

Not being mentioned in CBS’ publicity material: scenes in the theatrical release that won’t be seen in the network airing The film’s producer, as well as a CBS spokesman, acknowledge that the R-rated “Sea of Love” went through the obligatory network trims--especially in regard to the ultra-hot love scene between Al Pacino and a nude Ellen Barkin.

“But those trims don’t hurt us at all,” producer Martin Bregman insists. “This is still a sexy film--because the sexuality came through in the entire relationship (between Pacino and Barkin), not just that one scene.”

The added material--”footage we always liked, and wanted to use,” says Bregman--was originally left out because “the studio wanted the film to be tighter.”

The new scenes come early in the new cut, and reveal Pacino’s character to be “a cop who’s on the edge.”