With the second season premiere of the ultra-steamy show "The Tudors" approaching, we noticed our pulses quicken and our cheeks burn, inspiring a frenzied discussion about TV's sexiest series. Click through this slideshow to see which 10 shows made our list.
"The Tudors" is one history lesson that's worth staying up late for. Showtime's look at a young King Henry VIII is filled with intrigue, deception, shocking twists, and most of all, a deliciously sexy cast. Henry's relationship/obsession with Anne Boleyn is the main focus, but his studly right-hand man Charles Brandon also has his way with quite a few 17th-century ladies. Everyone in the cast looks like they just stepped out of a GQ catalog or a Victoria's Secret fashion show, and that's never a bad thing on a cold winter's night.
"Sex and the City" certainly lived up to its name. Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha were four independent New Yorkers with varying outlooks on love and sex. There was Samantha the eldest of the group and a man-eater who preferred one-night stands to monogamy. Goody-two-shoes Charlotte was a prude with a (sometimes) wild streak. Attorney Miranda was a cynic who ironically became the first mom of the group. And Carrie could never shake her love of a guy named "Mr. Big." She also wrote a column about -- you guessed it -- sex, a topic that never seemed to stray far from the gals' juicy conversations.
Trust us, if we knew of a hospital that had as attractive a staff as "Grey's Anatomy's" Seattle Grace, we would find a reason to check ourselves in immediately. But then we'd have to be concerned that our heart surgeon was having sex with an intern in the on-call room. Or that our brain surgeon was having sex with an intern in the on-call room. Or that a surgical resident was having sex with his married amnesia patient in the on-call room. Or that... well you get the idea. Though this steamy show about doctors, nurses, and students and their sticky affairs offers its share of death, disease, and disaster, it still manages to always stay sexy -- in and out of the on-call room.
Sexy, saucy, and often completely over-the-top, this BBC America soap followed the exploits of the players of the Earls Park soccer club as well as their wives and girlfriends. The character of Tanya Turner left the biggest mark as she was constantly marrying/divorcing/poisoning her husbands and was frequently caught in ridiculous and often extremely sexual situations. The rest of the "Footballers' Wives" were always dressed to the nines for public appearances, but scantily clad in their homes. As this is a British show, a little more flesh than normal was shown, and the writers took the series to a place shows such as "Desperate Housewives" could only dream of.
Showtime's fan favorite, "L Word" follows the lives and loves of LA's sexiest lesbians. Need we say more? Drenched in soapy, often humorous drama, every show is laced with erotica that can curl a straight woman's toes. Jennifer Beals, Mia Kirshner, Marlee Matlin and others bare their hearts (and more) each week for a rabid and eager following.
"Rome" was the highly acclaimed historical drama that chronicled ancient Rome's rocky transition from Republic to Empire through the eyes of two common soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. Full of backstabbing, betrayal, family feuds and hedonistic pleasures, the show managed to blend violence, intrigue and sex into an epic storytelling masterpiece which quickly rose from guilty pleasure to can't-miss, edge-of-your seat TV. The women of "Rome" like Atia of the Julii and Cleopatra, were as dangerous as the centurion soldiers, and used sex and their feminine wiles to obtain power.
Don't let the plaid prep school uniforms and girlie hair bows fool you. CW's "Gossip Girl" may be aimed at the teen set, but this soapy drama is dripping with racy glamour, juicy exploits and edge-of-your-seat sexual tension. The lifestyles of these filthy rich and fiercely fabulous Upper East Side kids are filled with outrageous and over-the-top scandal that results in addictive TV viewing. The ever-changing friendships and hookups (especially ones in the back of a stretch limo) amidst envy, lust and greed are the kinds of stuff voyeuristic viewers eat up.
Small town Texas life may not strike most folks as super sexy, but "Friday Night Lights" has all of the basic ingredients. It's simple. Take a hunky male cast, pair it with a hot female cast, add some storylines that bring them together on steamy Texas nights (maybe even three of the hottest cast members at one time), and you have yourself one of the sexiest shows on TV. Take, for instance, the obvious chemistry between bad boy football stud Tim Riggins and cutesy girl-next-door Lyla Garrity, who engaged in a forbidden affair. It really doesn't get any hotter than that!
Wedged between those big-haired, shoulder-padded dramas of the '80s and the risqué reality shows of the new millennium, the '90s brought us a primetime sexy soap about a group of beautiful single people who lived in an L.A. apartment complex called "Melrose Place" and who all really enjoyed sleeping with each other. Between the love affairs, office make-out sessions, catfights that ended in the pool, and Heather Locklear's sky-high short skirts, this clearly was a very sexy show.
Like the show's theme song says, these wannabe supermodels want it all… and they'll bare it all to get what they want. "Make Me A Supermodel" delivers TV's hottest catwalk, where both the extremely good-looking guys and the gorgeous girls have donned butt-baring thongs and skimpy bathing suits. They've competed in a photo shoot challenge involving tongue wrestling, biting, sexy lingerie, leather whips, and a whole lot of naughty foreplay. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, since these models have also dropped their towels and posed completely nude for art students. Sign us up for that class! Unabashed about exposing skin and promoting sexuality, "Make Me A Supermodel" is one competition reality show with no qualms about embracing sex and scandal.
Jelly fight: Nadia Witkowski (right) during her wrestling match
The tables turn: Miss Witkowski's opponent grips her in headlock just seconds before the crowd judge the blonde the winner
Shame: Nadia in handcuffs after the attack
Holding on: The two girls laugh together but the brunette was taking no prisoners
