Controversy over MTV's Skins

[kappa_1]

New York Times Article

The MTV remake of the British series has seemingly caused a lot of outrage among different groups. The Parents' Television Council called it "the most dangerous show on television" because it depicts minors drinking, doing drugs, having casual sex, and generally being reckless. Wrigley's and Taco Bell have both pulled their advertisements from the Skins time slot. Some have demanded that the show be federally investigated for breaking child pornography laws.

The British version was one of the best television dramas I have ever seen. It was not only well written and well acted but dealt with issues affecting teens in a frank, witty, intelligent way. The themes of the show were mature and woven together brilliantly. The first episode of the MTV version was decent; I'll probably watch the rest of the season just because I just love lesson planning in front of the television.

So what do you all think? Did you watch the show? Do you refuse to watch it amidst all the controversy? Or, do you not give two hoots about the whole thing?

[oleada]

The PTC is a joke and if they think that kids aren't doing that and much more in real life then they are sadly deluded.

[Spinner]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/business/media/20mtv.html?ref=television

The MTV remake of the British series has seemingly caused a lot of outrage among different groups.

Hold up now, doesn't "MTV" stand for "music television"? I thought they showed music videos. What's this about TV shows?

MTV = rotten, fetid pile of garbage (and for the record, VH1 = rottener, fetider pile of garbage)

[Satellitegirl]

MTV hasn't show music videos for the last 15 years practically...where have you been, Spinner? lol

[numbers123]

MTV hasn't show music videos for the last 15 years practically...where have you been, Spinner? lol

Spinner can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe his point was MTV started out with a mission of music and has now sunk to the depths of skank.

I have not watched it, but have seen clips of the worst behaviors. I realize that teems engage in these behaviors, but to put it out there for kids as young as 6 or 7...And yes parents should monitor watching.

[oleada]

I have not watched it, but have seen clips of the worst behaviors. I realize that teems engage in these behaviors, but to put it out there for kids as young as 6 or 7...And yes parents should monitor watching.

...6 & 7 olds shouldn't be up at 10pm.

If parents don't want their kids seeing it, then they should turn off the TV. But I hate this whole "think of the children!!!1eleventy" crap.

[numbers123]

I understnd that. Unless we change child pornography definitions, it will be a slippery slope.

[PDilemma]

...6 & 7 olds shouldn't be up at 10pm.

If parents don't want their kids seeing it, then they should turn off the TV. But I hate this whole "think of the children!!!1eleventy" crap.

Well, that's 9 p.m. where Numbers and I live. They may be up. Certainly, kids just a bit older--in the 10-12 range may be up to watch.

I have read several articles around the internet where very liberal critics are saying that the problem is less the sexuality than the fact that it is a really bad show.

[Stormy]

...6 & 7 olds shouldn't be up at 10pm.

If parents don't want their kids seeing it, then they should turn off the TV. But I hate this whole "think of the children!!!1eleventy" crap.

This. I've seen the ads for Skins since I am shamefully addicted to Teen Mom 2, but really, even if kids are still up when the show is on, the parents should still be monotoring what they watch. A 12 year old doesn't need a TV in their room. And a 6-7 year old shouldn't have MTV on ever, period.

"The most dangerous show on television"....what a joke. This makes me want to watch it now.

[PDilemma]

But parents don't. That's just a fact. And it is amazing to me that in a society where we expect schools to be responsible for teaching basic manners and every life skill under the sun--we still want to fall back on the idea that we have nothing but responsible parents monitoring their kids' consumption of media. We don't. Instead we have three year olds with their own televisions hooked up to cable. (My 16 year old nephew's b-day present at age 3 was his own TV). We have families with more televisions in their homes than people.

And we fall back on "it shouldn't always be about kids". No, it shouldn't. But MTV doesn't market its programming to people over 25 and we all know that. And the notion that perhaps there should be some quality programming for teens and young adults shouldn't be so offensive.

[Spinner]

Spinner can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe his point was MTV started out with a mission of music and has now sunk to the depths of skank.

I didn't think my post would be analyzed this much. I was just snarking about the current state of MTV and wondering why people with brains actually still watch it.

[nerdycool]

I haven't seen it, but I have seen the ads for it. It looked pretty trash-tastic even in the ads.

I'm of 2 minds of the "most dangerous show on television" opinion though. For the most part, I believe the PTC is so concerned over the virtue of children that they'll give bad reviews to everything except for Sesame Street (and even SS has gotten complaints). So I generally roll my eyes at a lot of things they review because I doubt there are many kids who go throughout childhood without hearing so much as a curse word. It doesn't reflect real life.

But on the other hand, if I had children, MTV would definitely be the one channel I block... and not just for Skins. There is very little they show that is even remotely kid-appropriate.

[Wyliefan]

But parents don't. That's just a fact. And it is amazing to me that in a society where we expect schools to be responsible for teaching basic manners and every life skill under the sun--we still want to fall back on the idea that we have nothing but responsible parents monitoring their kids' consumption of media. We don't. Instead we have three year olds with their own televisions hooked up to cable. (My 16 year old nephew's b-day present at age 3 was his own TV). We have families with more televisions in their homes than people.

And we fall back on "it shouldn't always be about kids". No, it shouldn't. But MTV doesn't market its programming to people over 25 and we all know that. And the notion that perhaps there should be some quality programming for teens and young adults shouldn't be so offensive.

^This. Thank you.

[kappa_1]

I haven't seen it, but I have seen the ads for it. It looked pretty trash-tastic even in the ads.

I think we should not be too quick to dismiss this show as "trash" just because it contains mature themes.

After all, Romeo and Juliet has drunkenness, senseless violence, teen sex and suicide. Art is often disturbing. To each his/her own of course.

[numbers123]

I didn't think my post would be analyzed this much. I was just snarking about the current state of MTV and wondering why people with brains actually still watch it.

Whoops

[manleywoman]

Instead we have three year olds with their own televisions hooked up to cable. (My 16 year old nephew's b-day present at age 3 was his own TV). We have families with more televisions in their homes than people.

Which is why we fired our first nanny. She insisted we drop our son off at her place (rather than watch him at our place). In 1000 square feet, she had four TVs. Her 6 year old could watch whatever he wanted, and play violent video games. i was explicit that the TV was not to be on when my son was around, but several times I went up to pick him up and lo and behold, it was on.

As soon as we found a better nanny, she was gone.

We have one TV in our 1000 square feet, and will never have more.

[Kruss]

Regarding MTV and music videos, they dropped the "music television" tag line earlier this year.

[Theatregirl1122]

But parents don't. That's just a fact. And it is amazing to me that in a society where we expect schools to be responsible for teaching basic manners and every life skill under the sun--we still want to fall back on the idea that we have nothing but responsible parents monitoring their kids' consumption of media. We don't. Instead we have three year olds with their own televisions hooked up to cable. (My 16 year old nephew's b-day present at age 3 was his own TV). We have families with more televisions in their homes than people.

I understand that not every parent is actually monitoring what their kids watch but if we use that to determine what is on TV, nothing could ever be on TV that wasn't appropriate for a 6 year old, which is ridiculous.

[overedge]

The PTC are shameless publicity hounds who make a disproportionate amount of complaints to the FCC.
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2004/12/4442.ars
They are a loudmouthed lobby group that represent the views of their funders way more than they do the views of "parents". The show may be skanky or inappropriate, but the PTC complaining about it does not make it so.

[IceJunkie]

On the topic of MTV, I'm 21, meaning I should be within their target demographic, but I stopped watching when I graduated from high school and that was about four years ago. People have been complaining for at least a decade or more than MTV doesn't play enough music, but at least when I was in high school (03-07) they had TRL, music videos (which I get no one watches because of YouTube) and other music-based shows like Making the Video etc. Now it just sucks. The only thing on anymore is Jersey Shore and Teen Mom.

Regarding the PTC, I still get a laugh out of the ingeniousness of the CW to use their condemnation on a advertisement for Gossip Girl.