Grade | D-
What Matt Liasse thinks:
Overseas, the teenage comedy-drama “Skins” is award-winning and critically-acclaimed. The American version, which premiered on MTV on Jan. 17, will probably not make as much of a dent on popular culture.
But you have to hand it to MTV for trying. The heavy promotion the network did for the show made it seem like this generation’s “Frasier.”
The real question remains: Can the laughable network responsible for Snooki, “The Real World” and Jessica Simpson jokes handle a teen drama? The pilot episode of “Skins” seemed to prove it cannot.
No creative influences went into the US version. It seemed to be a carbon copy of the British version, which was created three years earlier. It seemed to follow the same script and cracked the same jokes, just with worse acting.
Both versions of the show follow dramatic teenage situations with suggestive dialogue. They revolve around a group of friends viewers will develop love/hate relationships with as they engage in enough sex, drug use and alcohol consumption to send a parent into a tizzy.
The names and character traits remain the same in the U.S. version. A hip leader named Tony often turns his nerdy best friend Stanley into a punch line. In the first episode of both versions, Tony and his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend Michelle engage on a quest to help Stanley to lose his virginity, because according to Tony, having a 17-year-old friend who is still a virgin is unacceptable.
It’s clear the show’s main goal is to shock the viewer and push the limits. But, unlike overseas, which allows nudity and strong language without censorship, this show seems desperate.
Instead, the show takes stabs at religion with Abbud, a Muslim character, and homosexuality with Tea, the show’s lesbian. The teenagers in the show at one point joke that “good” lesbians are the ones who make out with each other for a man’s enjoyment.
But for anyone who has seen the British version, the situations the group of friends find themselves in are a boring reenactment. The memorable moments from the British show become annoying when recreated. Tony’s angry father yelling in his underwear begins the show, just like the British version. Michelle’s nickname, “Nips,” makes an appearance. A teacher-student relationship develops and the show ends with an SUV being driven into a lake, all done already overseas.
The American version offers new humor, but fails. A sneaky Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction joke and two prostitutes calling themselves the “Britney and Whitney Special” are just breezed over, leaving no room for a laugh.
The group of unknown actors fail to bring chemistry to the pilot, but as the show progresses, it only could get better. The depressed, mentally unstable Cadie, played by Britne Oldford, lends a breath of fresh air in the least boring scenes, but only occupies the screen for merely minutes.
There is no question this adaptation from British television will fail to follow in the long-running footsteps of America’s other copy cat “The Office.” A guest starring role from Steve Carell probably couldn’t even save it.
