Vince Gilligan had a vision for his new series Pluribus: everyone naked. Not for prurient reasons, he insists, but for artistic ones. The problem? He's making the show for a network that isn't HBO.

"We considered making the entire cast naked," Gilligan told Variety, "but we're not working for HBO, and we can't do that to all these extras."

Let's unpack this. First: the idea that nudity automatically equals prestige television is exactly the kind of thing that makes me roll my eyes. We've been through this. HBO spent the 2010s making "mature" synonymous with "gratuitous nudity," and now every creator thinks stripping their actors naked is the shortcut to being taken seriously.

Second: Gilligan created Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, two of the greatest dramas in television history, neither of which required extensive nudity to achieve their artistic vision. So why does Pluribus need it? What story is being told that requires everyone to be naked?

To be fair to Gilligan, he's not actually doing it. He recognized the logistical and ethical nightmare of making extras disrobe for his vision and adjusted accordingly. That's called being a professional. But the fact that it was even on the table suggests a certain kind of auteur thinking that assumes every creative impulse is genius.

Here's the thing: Vince Gilligan is one of the best television creators of his generation. But that doesn't mean every idea he has is good. Sometimes restraints - like not being able to make your entire cast naked - actually improve the work. They force you to find other ways to achieve what you're going for.

The "we're not HBO" comment is particularly telling. It reinforces the idea that HBO remains the gold standard for prestige TV, the place where creators can do whatever they want without network interference. But is that always a good thing? Some of HBO's best shows - , - used nudity sparingly and purposefully, not as a blanket aesthetic choice.