ABC Apologizes for Steamy Scene

ABC apologized Tuesday for its “Monday Night Football” introduction that featured a naked “Desperate Housewives” cast member seducing Philadelphia Eagle receiver Terrell Owens in the locker room.

The NFL called the risque promotional spot “inappropriate and unsuitable” for its audience, and at least one team owner thought it more egregious than Janet Jackson’s baring her breast in February during the Super Bowl halftime show.

The ABC segment featured a naked Nicollette Sheridan jumping into the arms of Owens. “I couldn’t believe it,” Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, said in a telephone interview. “My wife said to me, ‘Do you see this?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I saw it. It’s a disgrace.’ ... When they have a football player and they’re in a dressing room and they’re selling our shield, our product, they’ve got to have some idea of correctness. It’s very insensitive.”

The segment, which aired just before Monday’s Philadelphia-Dallas game, took place in an otherwise-empty locker room. Sheridan, wearing only a towel, provocatively asked Owens to skip the game for her. At first he declined, saying, “All of Philadelphia’s counting on me.”

“I can’t help myself,” Sheridan said. “I love you, T.O.”

Moments later, Sheridan dropped her towel and stood naked in front of Owens with her back to the camera.

“Aw, hell,” Owens said, “the team’s going to have to win this one without me.”

The shot then panned out to two more actresses from “Desperate Housewives,” Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, who were watching the scene on television and commenting on desperate women.

“We have heard from many of our viewers about last night’s ‘MNF’ opening segment and we agree that the placement was inappropriate,” ABC said in a statement. “We apologize.”

The Eagles released a statement saying it’s normal for teams to cooperate with ABC in the development of an opening for its broadcast.

“After seeing the final piece,” the team said in a release, “we wish it hadn’t aired.”

Said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: “While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost.”

“Desperate Housewives” is the highest-rated new program of this television season and is tied for No. 2 among prime-time shows. “Monday Night Football” ranks eighth among prime-time shows, and its ratings have declined steadily since 1994, when it was watched in almost 18% of U.S. households with televisions.

Jason Cieslak, director of interactive media practice at the Beverly Hills strategic branding firm of Siegel & Gale, said the limits of appropriateness are continually being tested.

“It is sad but not totally surprising,” Cieslak said. “This spot was relatively tame when you think about [Fox’s] ‘Wife Swap’ and some of those types of shows.”

After Jackson’s breast-baring episode -- Justin Timberlake ripped away part of her bra, exposing her right breast to an audience estimated at 90 million -- NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue advocated a crackdown on suggestive television scenes. The Federal Communications Commission, which was flooded with more than 200,000 complaints, voted unanimously to impose the maximum indecency penalty of $27,500 on each of the 20 CBS-owned stations that aired Jackson’s self-described “wardrobe malfunction.” The total penalty of $550,000 is the largest fine levied against a television broadcaster.

Networks began taking preemptive action by implementing broadcast delays so censors could catch anything that might be considered too racy. This season, for the first time, the NFL’s kickoff extravaganza was aired with a 10-second delay. The league also wrote the contracts, holding the artist, his or her management team and record label responsible for the content of the show. And there were full-costume dress rehearsals.

“Here we go before the FCC with the Janet Jackson thing, and something like this occurs,” Rooney said. “It’s inconceivable. The Janet Jackson thing was bad; I’m not lessening that. This thing, this was worse.”

Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.