| Skins | |
|---|---|
daisy war |
|
| Genre | Teen drama |
| Created by | Bryan Elsley Jamie Brittain |
| Directed by | Scott Smith Samir Rehem |
| Starring | Sofia Black D'Elia James Newman Ron Mustafaa Daniel Flaherty Jesse Carere Camille Cresencia-Mills Britne Oldford Rachel Thevenard Eleanor Zichy |
| Theme music composer | 3D Friends |
| Opening theme | Lina Magic |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bryan Elsley Derek Harvie |
| Location(s) | Toronto, Canada |
| Cinematography | Mitchell Ness |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 42 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Company Pictures[1] Entertainment One[1] The Movie Network[1] Movie Central[1] Storm Dog Films[2] MTV Production Development[3] |
| Distributor | MTV Networks |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MTV (U.S.) Movie Central and The Movie Network (Canada) |
| Picture format | HDTV 1080i |
| Original run | January 17 – March 21, 2011 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Skins (UK) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Skins is an American teen drama. It is an adaptation of the original UK show of the same name. The show premiered on January 17, 2011 on MTV in the U.S. and on Movie Central and The Movie Network in Canada. The original show was created by Scottish father-and-son television writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain for Company Pictures,[4] and premiered on UK digital channel E4 on January 25, 2007.[5] As with the UK series, the 2011 version features a cast of amateur actors and young writers.[6]
On June 9, 2011, MTV announced that they would not renew Skins for a second season, with a statement that "Skins is a global television phenomenon that, unfortunately, didn't connect with a US audience as much as we had hoped".[7]
Contents |
The pilot for the series is an almost shot-for-shot remake of its British counterpart, but the show deviates from the original UK show's plot in subsequent episodes.[8]
The characters in the American version are also the same as those in the UK version, although some names have been changed and all last names have been changed except for Michelle Richardson. For example, Sid has been renamed Stanley, Effy renamed Eura, Anwar renamed Abbud, Jal renamed Daisy, and Cassie renamed Cadie. The biggest change comes in the form of Tea, a lesbian cheerleader who replaces the UK character of Maxxie.[9]
Tony begins the season as the leader of the group, but as his relationship with Michelle starts to crumble due to cheating on her with Tea, his popularity and power within the group crumble as well. He ends the season with the realization that his friends, particularly Stanley, and his sister Eura mean more to him than he actually thought.
In the beginning of the season Michelle, or "nips" as Tony calls her, is in a relationship with Tony, which causes her to act like she enjoys the role of the goodlooking girlfriend and ignore her real feelings. Upon discovery of Tony's affair, she struggles to find herself and confides in Stanley, who has been in love with her for as long as he can remember. She concludes the season choosing Stanley over Tony, finally realizing what is best for her.
Stanley is lazy and insecure, and often is overshadowed by Tony, his best friend and role model. Stanley finally begins to find his voice in "Stanley," when he brings up the courage to stand up to his father, who is so demanding and self-centered that he drives away Stanley's mother. Stanley spends much of the season in love with Michelle, but soon finds himself torn between his feelings for her and Cadie. In the end Stanley chooses Michelle.
Tea is confident, smart, and at times confused about who she is. Tea is a lesbian, but soon finds herself questioning her sexuality by sleeping with Tony on two separate occasions. When Michelle finds out, her friendship with Michelle and relationship with Tony are broken off. At the end she chooses Betty, a girl who had been trying to start a relationship with her for most of the season.
Abbud is a funny and caring person. He is in love with Tea for half of the season, and then spends the remaining few episodes with feelings for Daisy, with whom he has started a "friends with benefits" type of relationship. Abbud is best friends with Chris, who he takes in after his parents desert him and Tina is forced to leave town.
Chris is the party animal of the group. He is loud, energetic, and at a lot of times, either drunk or high on either weed or some type of pill. After his mom leaves him alone for good with nothing more than 1000 dollars, Chris finds hospitality with Tina, who he starts up a relationship with, and then Abbud.
Cadie is bipolar, depressed, suicidal, and anorexic. She begins the season with strong feelings for Stanley, but then loses interest. She finds a boyfriend midway through the season, and ends it with feelings for Stanley, but ultimately chooses to let him go for Michelle, knowing it is what is best for him.
Daisy is the one who often has to fix everyone else's problems. She eventually gets fed up with everybody, and tells everybody to stop asking her for help. Her mother left her, and she lives with her father and younger sister, Deedee. She is a talented trumpeter and has dreams of becoming a professional. She becomes friends with benefits with Abbud.
Eura is Tony's younger sister, and does not speak. She enjoys partying and drinking, and Tony often helps her sneak in and out of the house. The audience does not hear her voice until the season finale.
Elsley said he was first approached on making a North American adaptation by MTV's Liz Gateley and Tony DiSanto. Elsley said that at the time he didn't feel that a North American version would work.[10] Several network and cable channels also approached Elsley about a North American adaptation. Elsley said "at that end of that time it seemed clear that MTV had the clearest vision."[10] He added "[the other networks] were missing a commitment to the core values of the show. Which is to say that MTV is clearly taking a risk with this show and they were prepared to take that risk."[10]
In early 2009, Elsley began finding writers for the North American version. Elsley said "We started at the top of the Hollywood tree and worked our way down, and it wasn't until we got to the bottom that we actually found writers we liked. We started saying to agents, 'Who have you just taken on? Who's got a great play on somewhere?' And that turned up just incredible writers that have never done anything."[10] After reading 400 scripts around the clock, a team of six was formed.[10]
Open casting calls were held in New York City. Six of the nine main cast members have never acted before. Elsley said "It's very important to us that the kids are not seasoned professionals" in keeping with British version where most had no prior acting experience.[6]
James Newman, who plays Tony Schneider, was urged to audition for the show by his older brother. Newman missed the audition but attended a later audition where he won the role.[11] Ron Mustafaa, who plays Abbud Siddiky, went to the open call for the show because his mother was a big fan of Dev Patel (who plays Abbud's UK Skins equivalent), Anwar, and wanted Mustafaa to "be the next Slumdog."[9]
The show production began in mid 2010 in Toronto, changed from the initially planned location of Baltimore.[12]
Besides several user-submitted contributions and a playlist of current U.S. songs, it was announced in late December 2010 that out of many submitted, user-created songs, "Lina Magic" by 3D Friends was chosen to be the official theme song for the MTV version of Skins and has been reworked and remixed for the 30 second intro.
Advertising for the show that aired from Christmas through New Years 2010, featured the song "Little Drummer Boy" by Canadian Harsh EBM band DYM.[13]
Fat Segal, the main composer of the UK version, announced that he would be contributing tracks to the MTV version.[14]
The US advertising featured the track "Kids" from the Noise pop band Sleigh Bells.
Matt FX is the music supervisor for Skins US. Music from Skins US has received unprecedented praise from critics. Music by artists such as Phantogram, Baths, and Animal Collective have been featured. Dubstep artists such as Rusko and Aquadrop have also contributed to the soundtrack.
Metacritic gives the series a weighted average score of 57% based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]
James Poniewozik of Time magazine concluded that the show is tamer than the British original, but believes if the controversial subject matter leaves parents reaching for antacid, then the show is doing its job. Although the show is raunchy, Poniewozik judges Skins to have "more sweetness than snarky teen soaps like Gossip Girl". He questions if this Canadian remake of a British show will be able to find its American voice, but commends the strong source material. He calls the show "unsettling, flawed but ambitious" and credits it with the secret that "it wears its heart on its skin".[16]
Troy Patterson of Slate describes the show as a "sporadically excellent adaption" that is "superior teensploitation, enabling youth to rejoice in the fantasy of their corruption". He admonishes those who call the show child pornography, scolding them for "trivializing terrible crimes with flabby language" and judges it to be more an indication of the show's success that it angers some parents and sets itself on the far side of a generation gap.[17]
The show has been criticized for its "racy" teenage depictions of casual sex and drug use, especially in regard to underage actors.[18] In the wake of a mounting scandal over a possible child pornography investigation of MTV as a result of the show's raciness, Yum! Brands (Taco Bell), Mars, Incorporated (Wrigley), General Motors, Doctor's Associates (Subway), Foot Locker, H&R Block, Schick, Guthy-Renker (Proactiv), L'Oréal, Reckitt Benckiser (Clearasil) and Kraft have all opted to pull their advertising from the program.[18][19][20][21][22] Additionally, the television activist group the Parents Television Council filed a letter to the Department of Justice, asking them to bring a child pornography charge against the series, alleging a violation of 18 USC 1466A.[23] Due to the controversy in the U.S. and because the show is made in Canada, Bob Tarantino, an entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, reviewed section 163.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada and found that "it would be exceedingly unlikely that Skins would be found to constitute "child pornography" for purposes of Canadian criminal law."[24]
In 2011, MTV branded the show "TV-MA" rated, meaning that it is unsuitable for viewers under 17. Nielsen reported that 1.2 million of the premiere episode's 3 million viewers were under 18. MTV told advertisers, "Now is the time to influence their choices."[25] They also defended the show, stating that it addresses "real-world issues" teenagers are confronted with on a daily basis, and in a "frank" way. "We are confident that the episodes of Skins will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers," they said.[18]
The series debut had 3.26 million viewers, with a 3.4 rating and 2.7 million viewers in the 12-34 demo, the most viewers in that demo for a show launch in MTV history. However, its demo rating was down 55% from its lead-in, Jersey Shore,[26] which drew 7.7 million viewers.[27] The second episode dropped to 1.6 million viewers, with a 1.0 share and 1.4 million viewers in the key demo. The third episode did not fare much better, dipping to 1.5 million viewers.[28] Episodes 4 through 10 averaged about 1 million viewers,[29][30][31] peaking at 1.2 million for episode 4[29] and hitting its lowest point at 0.962 million for episode 5.[30] The last four episodes (7 through 10) got 1.170,[32] 1.088,[33] 1.107[34] and 1.2[35] million viewers respectively.
On June 9 it was announced that MTV canceled the show because Skins wasn't connecting to the U.S. audience along with the controversy that went with it.[36] Bryan Elsley defended the show's content as not much controversial, "But a serious attempt to get in the roots of young people's lives." There are also pending investigations of sexual exploitation of minors.[37]
| Country | TV network(s) | Notes | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | MTV Latin America | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Australia | Fox8, MTV Australia (Rerun) | Premiered on May 7, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Brazil | MTV Brazil | Premiered on May 25, 2011; The show airs every Wednsdays at 10pm. | |||||||||||||||
| Canada | Movie Central & The Movie Network | The show airs on Movie Central in Western Canada and The Movie Network in Eastern Canada.[12] | |||||||||||||||
| China | MTV China | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Finland | MTV Finland | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| France | MTV France | Premiered on May 22, 2011; the show airs every Sunday nights at 10pm | |||||||||||||||
| Germany | MTV Germany | Premiered on June 3 , 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Hungary | MTV Hungary | Premiered on May 15, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Italy | MTV Italia | Premiered on May 20, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Israel | MTV Israel | Wednesdays at 11 PM, premiered on May 17, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Mexico | MTV Latin America | Premiered on May 15, 2011; the show airs every Sunday nights at 10pm | |||||||||||||||
| New Zealand | MTV New Zealand | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Norway | MTV Norway | Premiered on May 20, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Poland | MTV Polska | Premiered on May 15, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Spain | MTV Spain | Premiered on May 26, 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| United States | MTV | The show airs Monday nights at 10/9C PM | |||||||||||||||
| Venezuela | MTV | The show airs Monday nights at 10 PM | |||||||||||||||
| Sweden | MTV Sweden & TV11 | ||||||||||||||||
| Portugal | MTV Portugal | The show airs Monday nights at 9.50 PM | |||||||||||||||
| Romania | MTV Romania | ||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||