Heads are still exploding over the new version of 'Skins' on MTV- all the new found infamy of course is only going to guarantee that any teenager with access to MTV will be sitting down and watching the next episode, but the sermonizing from the Parents Television Council continues and first Taco Bell and now GM have pulled ads from the show and the New York Times has mused about whether or not it might violate federal child pornography laws, which is the equivalent to pouring gasoline all over something, throwing a lit match at it and inviting every single teenager in the United States to come watch.
But what really bugged me was discovering the outright hyopcrisy of the Parents Television Council. The thought occured to me yesterday: if they were fulminating against 'Skins' so loudly, calling it 'the most dangerous show on television' then surely they'd sent fire and brimstone MTV's way for 'Jersey Shore' and '16 and Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom'? Surely the outright glamorization of teen pregnancy is far more dangerous that depicitions of teens drinking, smoking, doing drugs and having sex- all things which a lot of teenager in this country do anyway?
It was therefore, something of a shock to find out that the PTC didn't have the unholy trifecta of MTV listed at all. Yup, they went 0-3 on what I consider to be some of the worst shows on television today. If you want to get into the semantics of what constitutes 'the most dangerous show on television' then I really do think the unholy duo of '16 and Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom' take the top prize. Sure, proponents of the show can argue that it's showing the reality of teen pregnancy in America today, but I can argue back, because it's not, it's taking young women who made poor choices and turning a lot of them into reality television stars with magazine covers, tabloid noteriety and telling a lot of teens out there that if you get pregnant, you too might end up on MTV.
And 'Skins' is the most dangerous show on television? The PTC may not like it all that much, but teenagers in America do drink. They do smoke. They do drugs and they have sex. And I'm pretty sure it's not carefully covered, chaste, missionary position style sex. I'm pretty sure it's full on hormonal madness, nudity and body parts flapping everywhere kind of sex. All of which 'Skins' depicts in, what I'm forced to acknowledge is probably a pretty uncomfortable way for a lot of parents out there. But that doesn't mean it's not honest about it- and what surprised me most about certainly the British version of the show was that the issues teens struggle with, whether it's bf-gf foolishness, drugs, depression, eating disorders, sexual identity, the death of a parent, homelessness, pregnancy all of these issues are dealt with in a brutally honest way, that I think is designed to provoke such strong reactions, espcially from parents. However, the funny thing is that a lot of the struggles these characters faced, I could identify with- growing up isn't easy and it isn't pretty and 'Skins' deserves some plaudits for refusing to pull any of it's punches.
Is it racy? Absolutely. Is it for mature audiences only? Yep. But it doesn't pimp out the glories of teen pregnancy in prime time- all of which makes the apparent silence of the PTC on the issue of shows like 'Teen Mom' just a massive, epic fail on their part.
[Let me say this again: MTV's version is just not that good. I'll watch the second episode, but the first one was deeply disappointing. They essentially cloned the British show, changed locations and gave everyone an American accent. In other words, they took 'Skins' and moved it to Canada.]
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