Birthday Suits FTW: Television Actresses You Were Likely To See Naked in 2012

FUN FACT: In 2011, full-frontal nudity was up 6,300 percent in 2011. Of course, that was on network television, and most of it was pixelated, but that’s the kind of thing the Parents Television Council wants you to know so that, I dunno, you’ll call your Congressman and tell them to stop featuring beach scenes on Revenge.

This list, however, is exclusive to cable, where there is no pixelation or blurring of nudity. It’s an academic exercise (or at least, that’s what I tell myself), which basically ranks the frequency and gratuity of nudity among female actresses on cable shows, limited of course to the cable shows we watch or might give some consideration to watching for something OTHER than the nudity (i.e., no Femme Fatales). The sex and nudity is just a BONUS because, as George R.R. Martin says — and I’m paraphrasing here — there should be lots of sex on television because SEX IS AWESOME.

I can’t disagree with that. One note before we begin: Each show is limited to only ONE actress (the one who was featured most) so that we can better spread the love around.

12. Jenna Louise Coleman — Room at the Top : Room at the Top is actually a British mini-series, and over in Britain, toplessness means NOTHING, but I’m including the shout out because Jenna Louise Coleman is going to be the next Doctor Who companion, and unlike Billie Piper, who we saw naked after her run on Doctor Who (see Secret Diary of a Call Girl), many will have seen Jenna Louise Coleman topless BEFORE her run on Doctor Who. It will change our whole perspective.

11. Melissa George — Hunted — A great little spy show (although I still haven’t seen the final three episodes, but I WILL) that’s kind of slow, and doesn’t feature nearly as much nudity as you’d expect from Cinemax programming. Maybe they’re trying to go legit or something.

10. Morena Baccarin — Homeland — Baccarin, the former Firefly star, actually loses ground over last year’s rankings, as her number of nude scenes dropped to only one. Bonus points, however, for being in an outstanding show (or at least, a show made outstanding by a phenomenal season finale).

9. Kellie Blaise — The Borgias — There are so many great premium cable dramas on television now that The Borgias kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but it’s got some great twists, and hell: It’s based on history. Who knew a Pope could be so wicked, and sex-obsessed?