Skins

[Antoyne]

Oh shiiit Spyder Games...I watched that show religiously before I ever got into Soaps..

[AllMyDaysatGH]

This show has been GOOD lately. It gets better with each episode. I think it's a shame it seems not many people are watching...I thought the last episode about Shelly was the best yet. How disturbing that she got Chlamydia from Tony's nasty ass, just thinking about that plus all the other girls he slept with...almost everyone in that school probably has it as well!! Crazy! The actress who plays Shelly did pretty amazing, I love how she handled the break up with Tony.

I have fallen in love with this show and I hope it gets picked up for another season...

[EricMontreal22]

The New Yorker got it right in their review I think about why the UK series, despite sharing much of the creative team, simply works so much better.

How is Skins doing in the US? At this rate will it even get a second season?

[Sylph]

Where's that New Yorker piece?

[EricMontreal22]

This is all they had online--there is a companion piece in one of the side bars to the review in the digital (and real) issue that's more specific.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2011/02/28/110228crte_television_franklin

[Antoyne]

I disagree that it's gotten better...I've made the mistake of watching the UK and occasionally catching the later US episodes and it really is just painful.

[EricMontreal22]

I've completely lost any interest I admit--I'll pick back up with the UK series (though the bizarre non ending of last season did shake my faith a bit) and that's it...

[Sylph]

The UK version ended in the Hall of Shame – they called it "middle-aged, cliched and as edgy as an Enid Blyton adventure":

http://www.guardian....all-shame-skins

[DRW50]

The ratings also crashed. Ultimately I think this type of project only works for a year or two.

[DRW50]

Good riddance. Canceled. I love how EW, which loves this faux-hip type of crap, tries to say it's for any reason beyond the show being boring and horrible and causing viewers to flee in droves.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/09/mtv-cancels-skins/

[AllMyDaysatGH]

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, I did catch a link on Twitter or somewhere else that asked if it was the ratings or controversy that did the show in. Nonsense. No one watched and no one cared.

[Antoyne]

People watched the first one, left in droves, watched the 2nd one, and it still sucked....MTV promoted the hell out of the show, but completely did not deliver the product they were hyping...It was like Degrassi trying to be even more cliche and edgy.

[All My Shadows]

IDK if we ever had a thread for the UK show, but what the hell, I'll resurrect this as a place to discuss it.

I finally watched the entire first generation's run of episodes in one, somewhat regular stream of viewing. Well, to be completely honest, I did the first series last year, watched the series 2 premiere episode right after that, and then binged the rest of series 2 over the last few days. Needless to say, 25-year-old AMS viewed the entire run way differently from the way 18-year-old AMS did.

After openly loathing Tony and seeing him as nothing more than a repulsive sociopath for the entire first series, I have to say, they did a magnificent job with his growth and development post-accident. His self-titled ep was one of the best of the second series, and where his character ultimately ended up and the decisions he made in regards to Sid and Michelle really changed my perception of the character. His arc finally made sense, and in his growth, there was growth in Sid and Michelle, as well. I've always loved those two (as characters, not as a couple - I thought their sexual relationship was completely hollow and unnecessary), so to have them blossom into their own as Tony recovered from his accident was great to see. Sid, especially, evolved as much as Tony, and when it all boils down, I'd say the changes in those two and their friendship is really what's at the center of the first generation of Skins. It was always about Sid and Tony, and Michelle and Cassie were secondary to that.

Chris and Jal's relationship didn't work for me. If they were going to put the two of them together, then their episodes needed to focus on that and not the stuff that comes after a couple is established. As it stands, they were thrown together too quickly and, despite their individual episodes being very well-written and acted, the drama just didn't ring true. Still, though, taken as they were, the episodes were great.

Sadly, they did so little with Maxxie and Anwar in both series, and I'm not TOO bent out of shape over that. Anwar was a cartoon most of the time, and for them to do everything they needed to do with Tony/Sid/Michelle/Cassie as well as what they were trying to do with Jal and Chris, there just wasn't enough time to really give Maxxie and Anwar long-term stories. The Sketch stuff started well but went absolutely nowhere, even though it was good to see her creepy ass left alone. Maybe they just overloaded the cast by having both Max/Anwar and Jal/Chris, leading to underdeveloped stories for both pairs. If they'd kept one pair as recurring, maybe they could have done more with the other. Or, they could have kept their stories small and simple - Jal and Chris developing an attraction and ending the series as a burgeoning couple (yes, which would have deprived us of Chris's sad and poignant death, but still...) while making an actual plot out of Maxxie dealing with Sketch and meeting James and Anwar's falling grades.

I'm very glad that I was able to watch these again. My series 2 was very spotty back when it originally aired, mainly because it was so hard to find good downloads online, but my love for this show is much stronger now that I was able to see it all. I wasn't going to keep going with the second generation out of childish protest, but I guess I'll give it a go. I'm ready to see what the new characters are all about, and if what I've read is correct, they're still a pretty good bunch. I'm not TOO big on Effy as she portrayed in the first gen. mainly because she just comes across as "edgy" and blase' for the sake of being "edgy." I'm willing to see how her story unfolds, though. The third generation...I don't know so much about.

[Antoyne]

If you don't mind Pm'ing me where you found the episodes please, I'd love to get back into the show.