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MTV brings "Skins" to Baltimore. What would John Waters do?
When Skins premiered in 2007 on Britain's Channel 4, fans fell in love with Tony, Maxxie, Chris, Sid, Anwar, Cassie and Michelle. After they graduated, fans learned to love an entirely new class, including "Naomily", a power girl couple that our sister site, AfterEllen.com is pretty fond of talking about. And the character Cassie came to New York City at the end of the second season. So surely they can relaunch the show on MTV and set it in Baltimore, right? Fans aren't so sure. Part of the reason that the show worked were the different guidelines about what was acceptable on television in the U.K. The show felt authentic, the teens felt, if a little dysfunctional, quite real. They smoked, did drugs, had sex, and swore in ways that actually made me rewind so that I could learn something. When it came to the U.S., on BBC America, the show was noticeably toned down, even on cable. Bare bums were pixelated, and a lot of the swearing was gone, muted away to meet our Puritan standards. But at least it wasn't cut so much as it was blurred. What happens when you have to make the show from scratch to get it past the censors? Nothing good, if you believe the reporting on the blogs — including this one. Back in April, we first heard the rumors of Skins coming to the U.S.A., and held a Fantasy Casting. I was only appearing in the members comments at the time, not the blog, but I had an opinion on the very thought of an American version:
Mine was actually one of the calmer, kinder comments when it came to the idea. Now that an actual production deal has been made and we know that MTV will be involved, fans are really crying foul. Pulling just the headlines from some of the 86 comments on yesterday's story on AfterEllen, you see:
We've already got a show about boring, indulgent teens.
So what about the people involved in the deal? MTV Senior VP of Series Development Liz Gately says "It's been two years that I've been personally involved in trying to get this here to the network." So she's committed. "I don't think I've ever had a negotiation drag out as long as this, but I knew it was something very special." The original production house in the U.K., says they wanted to get the formula right before they licensed it, and to help it translate successfully, Bryan Elsley, who co-created the series, will executive produce the American version.
Part of what made the original work so well was the casting. Like the original, the series plans to cast unknowns in the roles, trying to keep them as close to the "real teenagers" they're portraying as possible. And choosing to set it in Baltimore gives them a free character — the city itself — that they don't even have to pay union rates. If there's one thing I know from the movies and from HBO's The Wire, Baltimore provides it's own drama. I wonder if their most famous citizen can make a cameo?
John Waters could keep Skins quirky and dirty. Submitted by on Wed, 2009-08-26 14:15. |
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Isn't "Skins"
'Skins' is not...
... a cross between 'Real World' and 'Undressed*.' It's a simple scripted drama series that depicted the late teens in a more realistic fashion. One thing many don't know is that most of the writers are/were young people close to the age of the characters. The actors are/were roughly the same age of thier characters. I loved Series 1 and 2 but it seemed to go off in a really surreal direction in Series 3.
Oh... and don't forget the heavy drug use! No no for American TV!
As with most re-dos... bad idea. It can never be as edgy in the good ol USA. It never is.
Especially if it's going to me on MTV.
* or was 'Undressed' a scripted show. I don't remember. If so I apologize. But it's nothing like 'Real World.'
"Undressed" was completely scripted
Not a great idea
MTV !! Bryan Elsley is on board, good; but unfortunately the senior executives are the ones who set the tone for the shows. So which show are they going to pair it to? the hills? the city? OMG Paris Hilton!!?.
Also those brit kids can act, good luck with the casting!
Maybe reruns of Degrassi will be more suitable, or the remake airing on HBO ... Showtime ... even FX.
Degrassi
I liked the original show
The original was introduced to me via BBC America and my British friend who watched with me laughed at the editing. For me and alot of the show's fans, the Mtv version will be a miss. For the channel's target demographic (teens and early twenties) the retooled show may be a hit as many of them have probably not seen the original show. As long as the concept for Skins is kept intact I feel the remake will set well with its intended audience.
This may seem a tad off topic, but the taming of the show is mentioned quite a bit in this blog entry. A TV show dies because it's too tame and almost nobody in this country will watch it. I can understand broadcast channels being bland and censored. Afterall, they are free over the airwaves. However, one has to subscribe to cable. That's like renting an "R" rated movie and then complaining when you see boobs on your screen!
Your second point
As to your second point - I agree, and you're technically right. The FCC has the legal right to regulate decency on broadcast channels, because the way the airways licenses are written, they're held "in the public trust."
Even then the Supreme Court has limited that authority on decency fairly tightly to hours when children "are likely to be viewing" and 10pm-6am are technically wide open, and why NYPD Blue chose to show male booty years back - they could. And yet many affiliates, especially in the south, chose to not broadcast the episodes, costing everybody money.
Cable more or less follows broadcast standards - not because they legally have to, but because they don't want conservative viewers lobbying Congress to give the FCC the authority to regulate cable. It could happen in puritan America - cable/satellite is practically ubiquitous, and when something gets common enough, it gets scrutiny.
The number of "breaches" of broadcast standards by cable networks is so small that they're notable. Some tail on Nip/Tuck. Some language in a couple episodes of South park. Logo After Dark on Saturday nights. Comedy Central roasts airing after 11pm.
Premium cable has always been treated as its own animal - if you're paying an extra $15/month for HBO to watch movies, you don't want them edited.
I think the concept
I'm not a fan
As a Baltimorian
If the show were true to it's UK roots, it would show a lot of why this place is called Charm City by lovers and Harm City by haters. Hopefully it would be a midler image of Bawlmor than what The Wire did, and show some of the beauty of the city instead of the grit under our fingernails.
There'd be lots of crime and drugs, racism would be big (especially if going to nearby counties), and a feeling of inferiority (since we have to be near the coolness of Philly, DC, and NYC).
Countering that, lots of helpful people (so many ppl say hon), great (and bawdy) drag queens, the best aquairum in the nation (and likely world), and killer crabs.
Baltimore More
I'm 15 minutes outside Baltimore and although I hate remakes, if they twist teh story around to include the Baltimore suburbs influence I might be able to handle it. The accents are certainly interesting... I wonder if Essex and Hampden will be a big feature?
I am not suprised the picked Baltimore. The city is becoming what Pittsburgh was in the 1990s for the movie and TV industry.
------------------------------------------------------------"Being a bitch doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad person."
Wow, a couple fellow Baltimoreans
Nice to hear from fellow Hons!
I haven't seen the original Skins, but based on what I've heard about it the last few years and from what I've seen of other shows on the BBC, I can't imagine that it could be successfully recreated in the US. Our networks are just too afraid of offending anyone to do anything too risky... includingshowing what REAL teenagers are like!
That said, I think Baltimore is a great choice if they do bring the show to the US.
That reminds me of another article I read awhile back about Shameless being brought to the US. My thought at the time was there's NO WAY they could sucessfully make anything like the original here in the US. But if they did, they should set it in Baltimore because the ONLY person I can think of who could successfully bring it off is John Waters.
Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant could so a great job I think since My Private Idaho is a good parallel to Skins. But he is San Francisco centric and its time to give other US cities that are not either in California, New York, or Florida a chance.
And a quick Hey Hon! to all!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Being a bitch doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad person."
I'll give it a chance
The Bright Side
At least Russell T. Davies isn't involved in this one; otherwise they'd all be killed off under implausible scenarios.
Now, I wouldn't mind seeing an American version of Being Human...that would be pretty cool and I think it would adapt pretty well.
"When the people fear its government, that's tyranny. When the government fears its people, that's liberty."
- Benjamin Franklin
I shudder
Skins was really the outgrowth of a TV writer asking his kids what they'd want to see on TV. There was a massive outreach to teenagers from E4 [the channel that originally showed the series] to contribute script ideas, on-screen promotions, costume, actors and locations. If MTV follows those rules than I'd love to see what a US version of Skins came up with.
But E4 still has a public service remit, whereas MTV doesn't. An MTV version of Skins has compost heap written all over it.
MTV involved?
What does it mean that MTV will be involved? Will MTV lead the production of it? Because I'm really worried if they are.. I'm pretty sure it will be a watered down version of the Original series. I want it to have the same feel to it as the UK version. I want it to show REAL teenagers, not some bleeped out mess.
Harvey Milk: You gotta give 'em hope.
hell..not again!
i adore the original skins gang...the thought of seeing a hack job adaptation of this remarkable series is making me feel nauseated.
i honestly cannot see American TV execs showing the extent of nudity, drug use, cursing & violence --- in short realistic depiction of teen-age life on screen.
mtv having a go at it is a nightmare come true!look at what they've come up with over the years...am telling you be afraid...be very afraid!
horrible idea
The very first episode of
From Baltimore
Well I'm from Baltimore and I live in Baltimore. Go Ravens! Die Angelos!
Will the show actually be filmed in and around Baltimore? It would be nice to have something here other than The Wire or Homicide-Life on the street. We do actually have some very nice areas in Baltimore. Mt. Veron, Bolton Hill, Homewood, Canton, the Inner Harbor etc. Let's see some of these places for a change.
Oh by the way. An american version of SKINS will probably suck.
Aximill makes a good point
I forgot about our legendary inferiority complex here in B-More. It's well earned and is one of the quirky things that makes Baltimore what it is. I and many other people still get pissed off when we see a national weather map and Baltimore is the only major east coast city not represented. Philly, Washington, New York, Boston, even Pittsburg but no Baltimore.
The city is pretty much segregated as well.