We’ve previously discussed HBO’s upcoming controversial series “Tell Me You Love Me,” which features more explicit sex than any American TV series heretofore. For the show’s TV Critics Press Tour press conference, Your Mayor invited a couple of his constituents – Beavis and Butt-head – to provide commentary.

NOTE: ALL TCA PRESS TOUR TRANSCRIPTS ARE PREPARED IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING PRESS SESSIONS. DUE TO THE SPEED WITH WHICH THESE TRANSCRIPTS ARE PREPARED, COMPLETE ACCURACY CANNOT BE GUARANTEED.

HBO PROGRAMMING CHIEF CAROLYN STRAUSS: "Tell
Me You Love Me" is a show that gives you three, three
and a half, maybe four chances to pass judgment on other
people's relationships because it is a show that gives
you the most intimate look into relationships that we
probably ever seen on television. It's raw. It's
provocative. And it's honest. It takes three couples,
one in their 20s, one in their 30s, and one in their
40s, and really looks at the language of intimacy. All
the tools that we use to stay close, to keep apart, and
to keep our relationships going or stop them in their
tracks.

BEAVIS: Heh-heh: She said “tools.”

QUESTION: Question down the center here, and it's for
the esteemed creator of the show. … We're all distracted
by the sex. Are you worried that the public will be,
too, when the show finally sees air?

BUTT-HEAD: Heh-heh, he said “public.”

BEAVIS: That’s not a bad word, dillweed.

BUTT-HEAD: Oh.

SERIES CREATOR CYNTHIA MORT: No. Once they watch it and
connect to these characters -- and I think they will --
I'm not that worried about it. I was never worried
about it, not from the very beginning. But it's
certainly turning out to be -- to get a lot more
attention than I thought it would.

BEAVIS: Heh-heh, she said “wood.”

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Close enough.

BUTT-HEAD: Is “turning out” naughty? If so, heh-heh.

SONYA WALGER (discussing sex scenes): It's a cinch. I love doing it.
It's awesome. I wish there was more. Don't quote that.
It's hard. It's as hard as it is to watch. It's
uncomfortable, which is why you know you're doing
something good, because the sex scenes are essentially
scenes that have no dialogue but say as much as if they
did, which is what makes them so interesting to play.

BUTT-HEAD: She said “hard.”

BEAVIS: She said “log.”

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Actually, she said “dialogue.” She said “interesting to play,” too, but then, everyone at Press Tour says “interesting to play.”

QUESTION: Question, kind of a follow-up to that. For
the actors, did anybody actually do it?

CYNTHIA MORT: Next question.

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Hey, guys, did you know that in French, Mort means death, and that the French phrase for orgasm is La Petit Mort, which means, “the little death?” Interesting, no?

BUTT-HEAD: What makes you think French is interesting, Dillweed?

BEAVIS: But he did say “orgasm,” Butt-head. Heh-heh.

BUTT-HEAD: But he tried to make it educational! Crap!

MICHELLE BORTH: I think, you know, the sex scenes in
any of the episodes are a pretty integral part of the
storyline. We are not porn stars. We're actors. And I
think part of our job in any scene, whether it's a sex
scene or, you know, a fight scene or, you know, an
emotional scene, you do the best that you can to do it
authentically and honest. So, you know, we were doing
the sex scenes. We were doing them, yeah. To make you
ask that question, basically.

BEAVIS: Porn?!?

BUTT-HEAD: She said it’s not porn, Dillweed.

BEAVIS: Ah, crap!

ALLY WALKER: I think also -- I don't mean to interrupt.


BUTT-HEAD: Heh-heh, she said “erupt.”

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Actually, she said – oh, never mind. Pipe down.

ALLY WALKER: I think it's very brave.
I think it's brave in the fact that it isn't -- you
know, Cynthia didn't write it to explore what a great
sex scene could be. She didn't write with, like, "This
is going to be the kick-ass sex scene of the century.
I'm going to make it hot and steamy. And we're going to
be grabbing walls."

BEAVIS/BUTT-HEAD: Whoa!

ALLY WALKER: We're not doing that. We're
having, you know, sex where you're trying to get
pregnant, which is not hot. We're not having sex, which
is depressing.

BEAVIS/BUTT-HEAD: Ah, crap! Serious discourse on complex interpersonal communications!

ALLY WALKER: So it's not really there to
titillate you …

BUTT-HEAD: Heh-heh, she said …

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Actually, she didn’t.

QUESTION: Question for the producers back here. I'm
not even sure how to word this, and believe me, people
for the last two days have been trying to figure out a
way. Is there anywhere in this that there's, I don't
know, CGI, prosthetics?

GAVIN PALONE: I'm not sure, and I don't think you need
to get into it.

BEAVIS: He said, “Get into it.”

QUESTION: Cynthia, here in the middle. You said
earlier that you were surprised at all the attention
that the sex scenes were getting. Were you being
disingenuous?

BUTT-HEAD: Heh-heh, he said “disingenuous.”

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: Your point being…?

CYNTHIA MORT: I'm rarely disingenuous. I was not. I
am surprised. And, you know, again, when I wrote the
pilot and whatever episodes, the sex always was there,
in service of intimacy and in service of love. So that
people are pulling it out, I understand but I am
somewhat surprised.

BUTT-HEAD: Heh-heh, she said, “Pulling it out.”

CAROLYN STRAUSS: I know that the sex is getting
enormous amounts of attention, but you really cannot
tell the story of intimacy without using sex honestly
as part of your tool kit.

BEAVIS: Heh-heh, she said “tool” again.

BUTT-HEAD: That chick’s wild.

QUESTION: Perhaps the reason that everyone is
sort of talking about this so much is you say these
people are in love, well, the characters are in love
but the actors aren't, and because there seems to be
so much verisimilitude in the sex scenes. Perhaps the
people who have watched this so far are getting taken
out of the show because they know that they are actors.
And do you think that that might be part of the reason
that you're getting this response today?

GAVIN PALONE: I think that you're going to get that
initially.

BUTT-HEAD: He said, “get that.”

GAVIN PALONE:
I find, and the people that I've talked to who have
watched the show, is once you're involved with the
character you're not thinking about that anymore.
Because, I mean, I think that's part of the experience
of watching filmed entertainment. I mean, if you see
Robin Williams, you know, for a moment you're thinking
oh, there's Robin Williams but eventually, hopefully --
well, maybe that's a bad example.

BEAVIS: He said “Robin Williams!” Dillweed!

GAVIN PALONE: But Tom Cruise and
then eventually you're supposed to be paying attention
to the story and the character not be thinking oh,
that's Tom Cruise who is riding a horse.

BEAVIS: He said “Tom Cruise!” Dillweed!

BUTT-HEAD: But he also said “whores.” Cool…

MAYOR OF TELEVISION: No, he said – oh, never mind.

BUTT-HEAD (removing the “Tell Me You Love Me” pillowcase from the HBO gift bag): What’s this? Huh? Heh-heh: It’s a spunkrag. Cool.