Skins

[DRW50]

If it makes you feel any less ashamed, the UK did recently import L&O with an all-British cast.

Skins is a show I think probably did need to be translated for the US, because each country has its own youth culture, but then to do it in what seems to be a very sanitized version, and one with made up slang, just seems pointless.

[All My Shadows]

They actually did make a UK version of The Golden Girls, and it flopped very, very badly. Same thing for the UK version of That 70s Show. The difference is that the US originals become popular in the UK, and then they decide to make a British version. The only US sitcom that I can think of that was successfully made into a UK sitcom is Who's the Boss, which became The Upper Hand. A lot of their hit game shows originated in the US too.

I agree with something someone said on TWOP on Skins, that the best thing they could have done was just take the general purpose of the original, the general objective, and create an all-new set of characters, all-new storylines, etc. Not a "remake," but more of a "loosely based on" or "inspired by."

But I stilllllll haven't watched yet, so I'm gonna keep reserving judgment until I see it.

[Mr. Vixen]

I still fail to see how on EARTH this is child porn! There wasn't even any nudity. There wasn't even any NEAR nudity, really, except for one lady who was clearly an adult.

[London]

LOL This! ... but the PTC will find ANYTHING to bitch at, it amuses me how much they went after Gossip Girl and their one viral campaign I think for S2.

But I read something along the lines that the PTC is calling US Skins child porn because its rated MA therefore being marketed to adults who tune into watch "kids" (actors really) who are under 18 (which is also somewhat not true since some of them are at the legal age limit). its so laughable but they are getting sponsors to pull their advertising which is something they haven't been able to really do in the past.

I watched it because I like Sofia Black-D'Elia (Tea) and it was just HORRID. I told my friends this is so Skins lite. I'll try and stick it out 2 more eps. to see if its improved.

I just PRAY MTV does not get the rights to remake Misfits or I will scream.

[Toups]

So far, Subway, H&R Block, Wrigley, GM and Taco Bell have pulled their ads from the show.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/skins-co-creator-bryan-elsley-our-approach-is-not-careless/

Skins co-creator Bryan Elsley speaks about the controversy.

[jcar03]

I want to watch just to peeve off the PTC. Your television comes with a remote use it. Parents needs to be responsible for what their kids watch or listen to. I hate the they try to tell EVERYONE want to do.

[EricMontreal22]

BIG fan of the UK series despite many major reservations, iut just always wins me back (OK the AWFUL ending of Season 4--that sudden psyscho doctor sub plot and the unsolved murder myster felt a little like Ron Carlivati's OLTL, and not in a good way, but I'll giv them a chance to salvage it with the movie.

I have the first two eps of the US remake downloaded (as far as I know they're not airing in Canada yet), but whenver I go to watch it, I just can't be bothered... SHame, as it was nice to know the US production team (well some of it) were directly involved, and like with the original cast, they were using young untested writers again. It is funny that they kept the name, as it has little context in N America (although I admit I didn't know it was in reference to rolling papers--I thought it was more about sports--us vs them, skins vs shirts (who I assumed meant the adults). Hrmm Of course Queer as Folk did the same thing, an expression I had never heard from an American (but don't get me started on my hatred for much of that remake...)

The New Yorker had a little bit about the writing sessions for the show in their Talk of the Town column a few weeks back:

Teen Spirit

by Lizzie Widdicombe

January 10, 2011

Six years ago, in Bristol, England, the television writer Bryan Elsley was brainstorming ideas for a new series—cop show? courtroom drama?—and he approached his nineteen-year-old son, Jamie Brittain, for advice. The response was tough but useful. “He basically told me all my ideas for dramas were stupid, boring, middle-aged,” Elsley recalled the other day. “I said, ‘O.K., tell me what to do.’ ” Brittain (he has his mother’s last name) came up with a rough idea, and, a few years later, it became “Skins,” a drama about a group of Bristol teen-agers, which he and his father co-created. The show is in its fifth season, with two million viewers in the U.K. An American version airs on MTV this month. Its main innovation—besides including depictions of sex and drug use which make “Gossip Girl” look like “iCarly”—was Elsley and Brittain’s decision to fill the cast and the writing staff with real live teen-agers. Elsley said, “We basically rang round youth clubs and assembled a dozen teen-agers in what became the ‘Skins’ writing room.”

The American version of “Skins,” set in an anonymous northeastern city, is being written in New York. To insure the same authenticity as the British version, Elsley wanted a group of local kids to write Web material and vet scripts. He enlisted Randi Glass, a thirtyish, pregnant, maroon-haired casting director from Brooklyn, to round up teen-agers. She posted notices on Facebook and called her old teachers at Edward R. Murrow High School, in Midwood. On a recent afternoon, seven of the ten teen advisers were in the “Skins” offices, south of Times Square, for a read-through. They sprawled on couches in front of an array of junk food that had been laid out by Glass—Pringles, jelly beans, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The teens were from a variety of backgrounds—public and private schools, Manhattan and the outer boroughs—and they wore jeans, collared shirts, and leather jackets. They seemed like normal teen-agers, although they all had the faintly glamorous, knowing aura of city kids. They were discussing slang expressions. “ ‘Calm your tits,’ ” Yasha, an eighteen-year-old from Crown Heights, said, citing an expression that means “Calm down.”

“ ‘Good looks,’ ” said Kyjah, a sixteen-year-old fencer from the Upper West Side, who was wearing lime-green nail polish.

“It means ‘Thanks for looking out,’ ” Alexandria, from Yonkers, said. “Somebody’s like, ‘Oh, you dropped money.’ ‘Oh, good looks.’ ”

“ ‘Gucci’ is the same as ‘Good money,’ ” Yasha said.

“You can say, ‘What’s Gucci?’ ” Kyjah said. “ ‘What’s up?’ ”

Matteo, a sixteen-year-old from Park Slope, said, “ ‘What’s poppin’?’ ”

The teens hesitated. “That’s, like, a retro saying.”

Yasha added, “It’s gang-related.”

Derek Harvie, a thirty-nine-year-old TV writer, was in the room, taking notes. “They’re different creatures from you or me,” he said later. “They’re smarter, to be honest, than I am, or than I was in high school.” He had written the script that was up for review. It opened with a catchphrase that had been suggested by the teen advisers—“Hey, Abbud, what’s good?”—and included multiple sex scenes, a gravity bong, and a number of explicit Facebook instant messages. According to Elsley, the edginess of the show comes from the fact that it shows a teen-centric morality. “Teen-agers sort their own problems out,” he said. “They do it with friends and lovers and networks, without resorting to the morality of adults. Because they see the world of adults as being inferior.”

Harvie’s script showed adults behaving badly, too. “I think it was nailed on the head how you mentioned that teachers live a double life,” Alexandria told him. “Because teachers in school can be just as gossipy as teen-agers.”

Kyjah said, “That’s so true.”

Harvie asked, “Does anyone think it’s weird that in ‘Skins’ the kids don’t face any consequences for anything they do?”

Charlie, an eighteen-year-old Barnard student, said, “In real life, too, people don’t get caught. I have friends who do stuff like this.”

Matteo said, “I look forward to consequences in coming seasons.”

The script discussion was followed by an exchange about where to find A.T.M.s that dispense ten-dollar bills (pizza parlors) and about similar TV shows set in and around the city. The teens were dismissive of “Gossip Girl”—“It’s annoying, because that’s not what this is like at all”—but they approved of “Jersey Shore,” which, they said, has contributed to the current lexicon. Kyjah said, “When ‘Jersey Shore’ first started, everyone was like, ‘ “Gym-tan-laundry”? What?’ Now everyone’s like, ‘Oh, get your G.T.L. on.’ ” Another expression, used to warn friends about the presence of unappealing people at a party, is “Grenades!” “Now everyone says, ‘Grenades!’ ” ♦

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/01/10/110110ta_talk_widdicombe#ixzz1C3M3EoGu

[DRW50]

All of this reminds me of Book of Daniel, a very mediocre - at best - show which was for a while passed off as some type of martyred drama, since the far right groups protested about it.

[All My Shadows]

Not to be too negative considering I still haven't watched it yet, but this part makes me roll my eyes. The whole idea of them being "sprawled on couches in front of an array of junk food" is annoying as hell, because I can just hear them saying to themselves "Oh, we know what teenagers want, what they think is cool, we're going to give them candy! And let them sit on sofas! Yeah, man! And I have a bad dye job! So cool!!" It's stupid.

And they might as well have just set the show in NYC. If they're objective is to make a show that looks and sounds like the average American teenager, it might have helped them to get the f!ck out of New York for at least a day. Nobody I knew in high school used any of the phrases up there.

[Antoyne]

Uh all of those slangs used in that paragraph I've never even heard and I'm only 22 so i don't think I'm too far gone from teenage terms.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

LOL! I am even younger than that and I agree. I have NEVER heard any of those terms before. Seriously, who says "Calm your tits"? And I have seriously never heard anyone use "Gucci" in that context before. The one that made me LOL and roll my eyes the most was "Oh, good looks" wow...no. People usually say, "good lookin' out" or something like that.

I didn't know this show was written by teens, I think that's very unique and cool. I think that casting director might've picked the wrong ones though...JMO, lol.

Haven't seen yesterdays episode yet, will watch it later today.

[Toups]

The 2nd episode lost about half the viewers from episode 1. Ouch!

[DRW50]

[spin]Americans just can't handle that edgy stuff. [/spin]

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair, that was pretty certain to happen, right? The first ep was so hyped, etc, etc--don't get me wrong I'm not defending what I've seen of the US one yet, but the numbers are still decent for MTV right? Or no? (I'm honestly asking, I'm not sure lol).

I DO appreciate how the show is written (with the UK show this was good and bad, as you could go from an episode that really wasn't very good to a fantastic episode), and working with young people. But I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't understand half the terms used in that New Yorker piece lol.

[EricMontreal22]

Hahah well those Talk of the Town columns in the New Yorker usually sound a bit smug (and that comes from me as a huge New Yorker fan), but I do get your point.

I think the reason they didn't wanna set it in New York is the same reason the original show is set in Bristol and not London or even Manchester--a smaller, less international city is meant to be a bit more relatable. But then to have the new version set in NO real place makes it seem kinda useless to me. Of course, I find it annoying when they pretend Canadian cities where they film, are American (I guess if the thought is that Americans won't watch British tv shows, and so need to have them set in the US, then setting them in Canada would be just as unappealing for Americans? While the writing was largely awful anyway, it annoyed me to no end that Queer as Folk used Toronto's gay village recognizably for its full run, filming in actual bars and even keeping the names, had more Canadian actors than American, etc, yet they didn't think there was any reason to say it was Canada...)