Sex sells and we know it entertains, but can it inform at the same time? That’s the hope behind Showtime’s new drama “Masters of Sex,” about the ground-breaking research into human intimacy begun in the 1950s by gynecologist Dr. William Masters and his assistant-turned-partner, and later wife Virginia Johnson. They debunked longstanding misconceptions about sexual behavior and ultimately offered couples better ways to deal with their issues.
“Everybody assumes that we’ve come so far from the ’50s,” says Lizzy Caplan, who plays Johnson, the twice-divorced mother of two who, when first hired by Masters (Michael Sheen), recognized the importance of his ambitious study. “But we’ll see how people react. It will be a really good litmus test of how far we’ve actually come. Because it’s amazing that the title alone still makes people titter.”
Certainly a nudity-filled series in which two characters directly observe men and women copulating — in the interests of science, of course — does sound like a cable drama’s ultimate wet dream of salacious and serious content. But the idea all along for creator/showrunner Michelle Ashford and executive producer Sarah Timberman was to use cable’s liberties to achieve something dramatically purposeful.
“Our focus has been to find ways of depicting sexuality that feel honest and sometimes very awkward,” says Timberman, who saw Masters and Johnson’s work as a series idea after reading Thomas Maier’s 2009 biography, from which the show’s title derives. “In a way, there’s more frank discussion of sexuality in our show than there is actual sex.”
Masters himself, as depicted by British actor Sheen (“The Queen,” “Frost/Nixon”), is himself an embodiment of the way we compartmentalize our sexual attitudes. As passionate as the doctor is for scientific truth regarding sex’s physical properties, he’s miserly about his own feelings, even with wife Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald), with whom he’s struggling to start a family.
“What Bill discovers is that the more he tries to separate sex from emotion, the more emotion and human nature come crashing in,” says Sheen. “He’s got used to being able to control everything about himself, but it’s also become a kind of prison for him, and he senses that Virginia can unlock those things for him. But that’s frightening for him as well.”
The cast and creators see in their differences the stuff of invigorating drama. “He’s drawn to this question of intimacy, which he has a difficult time with, and Virginia approaches everything in a much more personable way,” says Caplan. “They sort of fit each other like puzzle pieces. Virginia needs his expertise, and he needs her strength of personality.”
Masters and Johnson obviously created enormous trust to be able to make hundreds of study participants feel safe conducting private encounters in not-so-private conditions. Sheen and Caplan did much the same on the set regarding the guest actors involved in scenes of sex and nudity.
“We had a responsibility to put a structure in place that allowed everyone to feel totally safe,” says Sheen. “Everyone knows exactly what they have to do, there’s conversations between actor and wardrobe, so everyone is comfortable well in advance. Then on set, either Lizzy or me will talk to the actor and say, ‘If there’s anything you feel uncomfortable about, then come to us.’ It’s just about getting it out in the open.”
When asked about this new skill set, Caplan laughs.“We’re really well-trained now at making people feel safe taking off their clothes!”
But can the show’s dissection of people at their most vulnerable also help viewers reflect upon their own experiences? If it does, Timberman will feel they’re only honoring the work of Masters and Johnson.
“We’re asking ourselves the questions they were asking,” says Timberman. “I would stop in the writers’ room, and there was always very personal stuff being shared.”
For Caplan, it was an eye-opener to learn how freeing their research was for women, long made to feel shame for Freudian theories about their ability to achieve orgasm.
“That I hadn’t heard of Masters and Johnson before I started working on this show, and yet they informed so much of my world view, was astounding,” says Caplan. “It’s time to give them their due.”