The shift from Ozzie to ‘The Osbournes’

When Suzanne Somers watches the Samantha character get naked on “Sex and the City,” she has to laugh. In the late 1970s, the producers of Somers’ sitcom “Three’s Company” had to tussle with the censors just to get the word “toilet” on the air.

The boundaries have evolved steadily in half a century of broadcasting, from “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” to “The Osbournes.” TV Land chronicles that shift in a breezy but revealing one-hour special, “Inside TV Land: Taboo TV,” Sunday at 9 p.m. Naturally, the network’s Web site warns, “Viewer discretion is advised.”

In its early years, the medium was expected to serve as a moral guidepost for the nation. Married couples slept in adjacent beds and Barbara “I Dream of Jeannie” Eden had the most famous navel never seen on TV.

Producers got bolder in the 1970s as Norman Lear tackled bigotry and other raw topics on “All in the Family” and its spinoffs in the 1970s. “Maude” took on abortion before Roe vs. Wade and “The Jeffersons” featured the first black-and-white married couple in prime time.

Taboo busters have often sparked anger. In 1989, “thirtysomething” lost advertisers when it showed two men talking in bed, but it helped pave the way for gay-themed series like “Will & Grace.”

Despite advertiser pressure, robust ratings have helped producers such as Steven Bochco of “NYPD Blue” push the limits.

In recent years, cable has accelerated change: With its cocktail of sex, cursing and violence, “The Sopranos” is a hit, like it or not.

TV, after all, is a business, and low ratings are the biggest no-no.