• Variety , Monday, June 25, 2007 10:15 AM

Networks and series creators frequently push the limits of acceptable programming, and the upcoming season will be no exception. With 25 new premieres on tap, the new pilots underscore how subtly the bar this year is being raised (or lowered) in the effort to surprise and titillate viewers in ways that confound federal regulators, pandering legislators, watchdogs and occasionally the networks themselves.

Among the latest kinks are characters cavorting with transvestites and monkeys joining humans in sex. And there is little doubt such fare will get scolds like the Parents Television Council up in arms about the decline of "family values." They were upset when an appeals court recently tossed an FCC indecency ruling, supposedly clearing the way for the nets to use swear words.

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