Amid breathless reports about the Parents Television Council calling for an advertiser boycott (thanks for obliging Taco Bell!) and a federal investigation, MTV’s Skins is continuing to push the envelope when it comes to telling racy and realistic stories about high schoolers. To wit: The network released this teaser from the Jan. 24 episode, which focuses on Tea (Sofia Black D’Elia), who is a lesbian struggling with coming out to her family and finding love.
“I would say Tea on the surface is very confident, tough, can hang with the boys kind of chick,” D’Elia told EW exclusively. “At first glance, she’s kind of unrelatable because I don’t know many teenagers that have that air of confidence and her bravado. But underneath it all she’s just as unsure as the rest of us.” She’s the one with the straight hair. Check out the clip below:
Meanwhile, the PTC announced today that GM has put Skins on its 'do not buy' list. "PTC thanks General Motors for swiftly responding to PTC members' concerns about Chevy Volt advertisements," PTC President Tim Winter said in a statement. "MTV admitted placing the Chevy commercial on Skins in error. GM also stated that MTV had apologized for its error. Every single advertiser who sponsored the premiere episode of Skins is not only endorsing, but glorifying teen drug and alcohol abuse, not to mention a plethora of baseless sexual content."
MTV released this statement after the PTC called for a federal investigation into the show: “Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way. We review all of our shows and work with all of our producers on an ongoing basis to ensure our shows comply with laws and community standards. We are confident that the episodes of Skins will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers. We also have taken numerous steps to alert viewers to the strong subject matter so that they can choose for themselves whether it is appropriate.”
Skins, which is a stateside version of the edgy British sensation of the same name, attracted 3.3 million viewers for its premiere this week.
(Additional reporting by Tim Stack)
People need to get a grip. This is a watered-down version of the British original. It’s not nearly as good as its predecessor and might have been gone after a few episodes or one season. MTV should issue a thank you statement to the PTC. All of their blustering will surely up the ratings next week and ensure a second season. Well done.
I completely agree with everything you said. But I watched the original 3 yrs ago, and I feel like the show has a lot more depth than people in the US give it credit. The core of the show is not about hooking up and doing drugs. And teens can see that. I think people don’t give them enough credit, and adults end up talking down to kids who know why they do the things they do and so forth.
JBD, thank you for saying that!
Someone on the post about whether or not the US version was violating pornography laws said that this show (and I guess the UK version as well) glorifies teen sexuality and drug use.
For the life of me I can’t understand why everyone just assumes that because something is on TV, it’s being promoted/glorified. Skins does not glorify sex and drugs; it’s just portraying them the way that they are found in real life. The teens on Skins have dysfunctional families and really troubled lives; I’m pretty sure their wild partying is more of a projection of those problems. It’s painfully and very sadly realistic. And as a teen I find the PTC incredibly condescending. Whether or not I can watch a show is up to me and the people in my family, not some stranger who thinks he has the moral superiority to deem something fit to watch.
This show is on my ‘do not watch’ list.
[[MTV’s Skins is continuing to push the envelope when it comes to telling racy and realistic stories about high schoolers.]]
Why is this implied to be a good thing? I’m not saying it’s not, necessarily, I’m asking a question.
There is an interesting pull to these shows – on one hand, there is the problem of showing behavior that is unacceptable for people to engage in, no matter what the age, and on the other hand, there is the need to show such behavior so that children (which is what teens are, really) do not feel the need to engage in it. If you are so upset about your child watching a television show, you should be discussing this with your child. If not, you are doing them a great disservice.
What really bothers me is that many teens may feel the need to find their answers from a tv show rather than being able to seek the love and acceptance of their parents.
crap crap crap
racy? vividly so. realistic? no. definately not.
Yes because every teen is a virgin and only drinks water.
Just because someone says one extreme is not realistic does not mean they think the opposite extreme is. There is a huge gray area inbetween and that’s where most teens are.
Yes, some teens engage in this behaviour, but that doesn’t mean ALL do. I’m a teen and I’m not insulted by the content, but I am insulted by the implication that most teens do drugs and have sex all the time. It simply isn’t like that.
100 percent agree. I teach high school and I have seen a handful of students with these issues. No, they aren’t all water drinking virgins, but most teens aren’t drug addicted sluts either.
Wow, all about the publicity. Can’t believe the media fell for this old trick.
Paul, I totally agree with you. And most of the negative things I’ve been hearing have to do with how “teens are using drugs”. Why not focus on the fact that, at least in the original British version, the show is NOT shy about showing the ramifications of all the drugs, sex and alcohol. Pretty realistic, if you ask me. In fact, more then one character ends up in rehab.
i watched the UK skins seasons several years ago. too many sissy wankers crying and complaining. kids like this stuff. moms need to shut the hell up!
When I was a teen, I’d ask my parents if I could watch a show and they’d tell me yes or no. Silly me, I thought I’d do the same with my daughter, when she’s a teen. But now I have V chips and the PTC to all that for me, so why bother parenting at all? With the immense amount of utter c rap on TV, the PTC hissy fit is kind of making me want to watch Skins.
As a high school teenager i do not believe that this show clearly does not depict teenagers in a good way. First of all not all high school students have sex, take drugs, and don’t give a flipping f*** about school. And also i don’t think an M-Rated school should be on basic cable because little kids will be watching it despite the intended audience. It’s exactly something early teens should be watching because it is only going to make them think it is “cool.” I think it should either be pulled of MTV or put it on other channels. It sure as hell isn’t doing much for me.
I mean it does not depict teenagers in a good way.
Do you stop advertising in all shows with drugs? Or just the ones that everyone tries to make a big deal over?
Umm… real? No, maybe it is depicting real life situations that might happen to teenagers, but this is just another crap show thats going to make teens who brains haven’t fully developed think that its a good idea to go do drugs, drink, and have a ton of random sex. It’s like girls getting pregnant to be on 16 and Pregnant.
Exactly why teens get into these situations the cool kids in school are doing this and worse. True MTV is in it for the money. But kids were doing worse than this 37 years ago when I was in highschool. I have nephews and nieces I talk too and it is worse today as I would have expected. some kids avoided the popular kids then and some do now but it ain’t because the parents!
Newsflash: teens do that anyway, regardless of the influence of shows depicting it. And thanks for the ‘fully developed brain’ comment. I had no idea I was so intellectually inferior. Thanks for letting me know.
If you do research, the frontal lobes of the brain are not fully developed until mid-twenties, which makes it more difficult to make thought out decisions and plan ahead.
I guess changing the channel is out of the question huh?
I wish they had made the US Skins more original. The Us version is the exact replica of the UK version from the story line to the script, the setting etc. I wish it had been set in baltimore and had a cast representative of the city. They should’ve kept the raunchiness of the show and put on like showtime or HBO. I just wished the US could’ve made something more original.
Realistic? Calling Skins “realistic” is like calling Dexter just a regular guy. If it were realistic it would be boring. MTV is simply exploiting children for financial gain.
Our Puritan our showing. Hide from sex and kids get pregnant or worse suicide. When are parents going to grow up. You can not hide your kids from reality. Most know more than their parents want to know, but that is too bad. I loved strict Catholic parents when I was in school, girls using me to prove they were in control not dear old dad. Lost my virginity at 14, Freshman year and before I graduated there were at least a 7 to 12 girls who showed dad who was incontrol of their bodies! Thanks PTC I surely enjoyed teaching what you were hiding!
What amuses me about this whole thing is the people that are crying and complaining are the same ones that were saying as teens,’if they don’t like it there is always the off switch’. Now look where they are at. I have a 16 year old water drinking virgin at home. We have discussed this and she says that it is WAAAAAY over the top in its depictions of how kids are at school and away from it as well. She should know, even though she is the aforementioned water drinking virgin, she is one of the more socially popular kids at school. This said, it leads to reason then that MTV is using this as a way to exploit underage actors for the tittalation of 30-something basement dwellers whose parents pay the cable bill and internet access. Keep on fapping guys.