As audiences are showing higher tolerance and frankly, a bigger appetite for aesthetic portrayal of sex scenes, creators are becoming bolder in depicting them on TV shows. Especially, fearless directors and show creators like Shonda Rhimes and John Fawcett, have filmed sex scenes of 2014 in a steamier and a more visually appealing way than ever before.
Here is a list of some of the hottest TV hook-ups of 2014:
Meredith and Derek in "Gray's Anatomy" Season 11 Episode 6
In "Don't Let's Start", the sixth episode of the eleventh season of Shonda Rhimes' successful series "Grey's Anatomy", everyone's favourite married couple on TV, Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd shares some intimate moments in the shower. Amid speculations that their marriage might not survive this season, "MerDer" fans can sleep peacefully, knowing that the fire in their bedroom, or rather their bathroom, is still ablaze.
Rachel and Paul in "Orphan Black" Season 2 Episode 5
Rachel Duncan may be a clone, but she sure knows how to make passionate sex onscreen. Things get kinky between the proclone and her newly promoted monitor Paul, when Rachel orders him to get two glasses of wine, grab a chair and strip; she then reaches into his mouth and inspects him like a derby horse before stripping off her silk coat and getting down to business.
Mellie and Andrew in "Scandal" Season 3 Episode 15
Another gem from Shonda Rhimes, "Scandal", has many beautifully directed love-making scenes. Mellie Grant, the First Lady and wife to Fitzgerald "Fitz" Thomas Grant III, who is miserable being in a love-less marriage, finds solace in Andrew Nichols and kisses him on an impulse after an animated discussion during a cosy dinner in "Mama Said Knock You Out".
Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp in "Outlander" Season 1 Episode 7
In the episode aptly titled "The Wedding", Claire and Jamie get married and try to get to know each other better in order to make their consummation less awkward. By the end of some of the most beautifully choreographed sex scenes ever seen on TV, the couple realise they have feelings for each other.
Freya and Killian in "Witches of East End" Season 2 Episode 8
In "Sex, Lies, and Birthday Cake", Killian Gardiner confesses to his soul mate Freya Beauchamp that he is in love with her and that they belong together and is seen staring at her throughout her birthday party. The couple that always find their way back to each other in every life, are later seen making love.
Connor and Paxton in "How to Get Away with Murder" Season 1 Episode 4
In arguably the hottest portrayals of gay sex scene on TV ever, the ambitious law student Connor Walsh engages in a sexy copy room romp with his client's assistant in order to bug his phone. That particular sex scene in "Let's Get To Scooping" definitely helped the show's conscious or sub-conscious efforts to push boundaries on TV with regards to gay relationships, race, and age.
Nicky and Random girl in "Orange is the New Black" Season 2 Episode 3
Nicole "Nicky" Nichols has proved her sexual prowess time and again in the two seasons of "Orange is the New Black", and her considerable sexual appetite was given special attention in "Hugs Can Be Deceiving", when she competed with Big Boo to have sex with as many inmates as possible in season 2, episode 5, "Low Self Esteem City". Natasha Lyonne's believable lust for the female body, coupled with the chemistry that sizzled in the shower room, made for one steamy hook-up scene.
Poussey and Franiska in "Orange is the New Black" Season 2 Episode 3
Poussey, whose unrequited love for Tasty is a central story in the prison comedy, was shown as having a past lover, who did love her. In "You Also Have a Pizza", her affair with a German officer's daughter back when she used to live on an army base in Germany is revealed. The scene between the two is especially groundbreaking, because they throw light on how "scissoring" doesn't really work out in real life and is just a thing made up by porn filmmakers to titillate men.