The MTV show Skins has riled up a lot of people--particularly, but not surprisingly, the Parents Television Council. They're trying to get MTV to edit the show or risk facing child pornography charges for a future episode where the naked backside of a teenage actor is shown.
The show is a hit over in England, and if you watch a few of the episodes on BBC America, it would seem like the show was almost tailor-made to be brought to America. And what better home could it have than MTV? The channel that's been offending parents for years.
So what did I think about checking out the show?
Well...it's kind of...boring.
Okay, I'll just come out with it: It's a bad show.
And I'm not saying that because of the "offensive" elements of it. It takes a lot to offend me. What bothers me more about the show is the poor writing and the fact that the shocking aspects of the show aren't shocking at all.
Where has the PTC been the last ten years?
Teenage sex and drug use on television has been around since the original 90210. A big deal is being made about the fact that these teenagers are being played by actual teenagers--as if somehow it's not as bad watching the kids on Glee cavorting around in skimpy cheerleader outfits because in reality they're in their late twenties.
Am I the only one who remembers the early days of Britney in the schoolgirl uniform?
Skins isn't the most sexually provocative thing ever put on the air. That would be a show called Undressed that aired ten years ago where every episode feature three different couples--one of them a high school couple--having sex, talking about the sex they just had, and then having more sex.
I would venture to say that reality shows like Teen Mom and Jersey Shore do way more to influence the way kids behave, and the behavior on those shows isn't scripted.
It seems like nowadays if you to get a show on television, just tell some network honcho that the premise is "teenagers have sex and do drugs" and you'll be good to go. The WB-turned-CW built an entire network around that concept. Maybe that's why when I'm watching Skins, I just feel like I'm watching a rerun of some other show from a decade ago.
I don't find Skins to be worthy of all this attention. Chances are, attention is what MTV was hoping for in the first place, because attention and bad publicity turn into killer ratings. Remember all the flack Jersey Shore first got when it premiered? Now it's become a tent pole of the network.
If the PTC really wanted to shut down Skins, they shouldn't have said a word about it. A show that bad without any controversy surrounding it probably would have just faded away quietly.
Instead, we're probably going to have ten more shows like it in development by the time I'm done writing this post.
The show is a hit over in England, and if you watch a few of the episodes on BBC America, it would seem like the show was almost tailor-made to be brought to America. And what better home could it have than MTV? The channel that's been offending parents for years.
So what did I think about checking out the show?
Well...it's kind of...boring.
Okay, I'll just come out with it: It's a bad show.
And I'm not saying that because of the "offensive" elements of it. It takes a lot to offend me. What bothers me more about the show is the poor writing and the fact that the shocking aspects of the show aren't shocking at all.
Where has the PTC been the last ten years?
Teenage sex and drug use on television has been around since the original 90210. A big deal is being made about the fact that these teenagers are being played by actual teenagers--as if somehow it's not as bad watching the kids on Glee cavorting around in skimpy cheerleader outfits because in reality they're in their late twenties.
Am I the only one who remembers the early days of Britney in the schoolgirl uniform?
Skins isn't the most sexually provocative thing ever put on the air. That would be a show called Undressed that aired ten years ago where every episode feature three different couples--one of them a high school couple--having sex, talking about the sex they just had, and then having more sex.
I would venture to say that reality shows like Teen Mom and Jersey Shore do way more to influence the way kids behave, and the behavior on those shows isn't scripted.
It seems like nowadays if you to get a show on television, just tell some network honcho that the premise is "teenagers have sex and do drugs" and you'll be good to go. The WB-turned-CW built an entire network around that concept. Maybe that's why when I'm watching Skins, I just feel like I'm watching a rerun of some other show from a decade ago.
I don't find Skins to be worthy of all this attention. Chances are, attention is what MTV was hoping for in the first place, because attention and bad publicity turn into killer ratings. Remember all the flack Jersey Shore first got when it premiered? Now it's become a tent pole of the network.
If the PTC really wanted to shut down Skins, they shouldn't have said a word about it. A show that bad without any controversy surrounding it probably would have just faded away quietly.
Instead, we're probably going to have ten more shows like it in development by the time I'm done writing this post.
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