Skins: "The Most Dangerous Show on Television"

[chanel]

No one said he has to raise them. But he doesn't have the right to exploit them.


And anyone who knows anything about teens knows that peer pressure is a far greater influence on them than parents. At least during those years. Adolescent Psych 101. Maybe they should bring back cigarette advertising on TV too. After all, its not TVs fault if kids choose to smoke, right? No effect whatsoever. No harm; no foul.

 

[JScott]

Skins” is surely one of the most sexually charged programs that MTV has featured. Before it even had its premiere, the Parents Television Council, a TV watchdog group, labeled “Skins” the “most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children.” The group objected to the gratuitous scenes of drug and alcohol use, violence and sexual acts.

Of course, those scenes may be what attract young viewers in the first place. Jessica Bennett, a senior writer for Newsweek, wrote last week, “ ‘Skins’ may be the most realistic show on television.”

The show is off to a running start. It attracted 3.3 million to its premiere on Monday night and set a new first-episode record for the channel among viewers ages 12 to 34.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/b...p=1&adxnnlx=1295632949-rrIGAAUa2T6US9tiiFlDng

Has anyone seen it? I did. Worse than you can possibly imagine. And I can tell you as someone who spends every day with teenagers (who often give me TMI), this is NOT "the most realistic show on television."

The most disturbing part for me was the end of the first episode. Driving stoned, the kids run their car off a bridge into the water. Amazingly all the passengers emerge completely unscathed and one announces "Oh shit, The weed got wet". And they laugh and laugh and laugh... Scary.

Glorifying sex, drugs, and child prostitution is dangerous. Glorifying teen driving accidents is deadly.

Its not dangerous. Turn it off and *BAM* youre all safe and cozy again.

 

[Blagger]

Anyway, back to the unrealistic window into the lives of British teenagers who seem to have a never-ending flow of cash to fund their hedonistic 'lifestyle', even though none of them seem to have a job.

I've seen a couple of episodes, but more importantly, I was unfortunate enough to see the "Skins Party" in which dedicated viewers were invited to a party styled on the one's in the show.

What would you do if you were invited to such a gathering? I know what I'd do. I wouldn't actually be there; I'd be viewing the celebration through a military grade night-scope, enjoying the mayhem and tragedy the acid and ecstacy tablets I'd bought from the North Korean goverment were causing to the care free delinquents of channel 4's Bristol. Once they realised that something sinister and 'uncool' was unfolding in the forest around them I'd start firing .50 caliber hollow points treated with Ricin and depleted uranium into their malnourised torso's with eye watering accuracy. Now time for phase 2. I'd instigate a pincer movement utilising my private military contractors sourced from Chechnya, war criminals from Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Sadam's former personal guard and a few Texans for good measure to start mopping up any of the fleeing if not mutilated middle-class revelers; armed solely with rusty bread knives and salt n vinegar. Phase 3, locate main cast. The boys will be taken by rendition flights to C.I.A black sites in north Africa and Kazakstan where they shall be forced dress normally, get normal part-time work in a supermarket; but I'll eventually get bored and subject them to a 'hostel 1+2' style incarceration. The girls will simply be stabbed in the face and be forced to twist the handle a full 360 degrees. Phase 4, claim responsibility by delivering the teenage idiots' final moments of agony to their real-life parents in an envelope marked 'Swagger. A disaffected viewer'.

 

[bodecea]

"Dangerous"?

C'mon.

It's not society's problem if parent's are too weak to even enforce what their kids see on television.

If that's the case, you've got bigger problems than the television.

They do....the comment about tv's and computers in their kids' bedrooms...there's your problem right there.

 

[chanel]

Even the uber-liberal NYT thinks this show has crossed the line. In fact, the writer made a similar point to mine about the Jersey Shore. They are adults; and they suffer consequences.

But while Snooki & Co. may act like children, they can legally drink alcohol and give consent to what might ensue: the age of 21 may seem like an arbitrary distinction but it’s an important one and, besides, it’s the law.

Even in the most scripted reality programming, the waterfall of poor personal choices is interrupted by comeuppance. People get painful hangovers, the heartbreaks are real if overly dramatic and the cast members have to live with their decisions.

Not so on “Skins,” where a girl who overdoses and is rushed to the hospital wakes up to laughter when the stolen S.U.V. taking her there slams to a halt. Teenagers show children how to roll blunts, bottles of vodka are traded on merry go-rounds, and youngsters shrug off being molested and threatened by a drug dealer. And when the driver of the stolen S.U.V. gets distracted and half a dozen adolescents go rolling into a river, the car is lost but everyone bobs to the surface with a smile at the wonder of it all.

“Teenagers are both sexual beings and highly impressionable, and because of that, they’re vulnerable to just these kinds of messages. You have to wonder if there isn’t a better way to make a living.”

There is. You could produce a show that clearly depicts what happens when kids do only what they want and exercise some poor judgment. There’s already a very good one on MTV, by the way. It’s called “Teen Mom.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/business/media/24carr.html

 

[strollingbones]

watch this with your kids...and watch everyone die laughing at buying 4 oz of shank.....anyone got any clue how much that would cost in reality....

you think these kids are the 'beautiful people'? really.....i just dont get this most dangerous tv show label......i still wonder how sheltered your life must be

 

[asterism]

You mustn't be a parent or teacher. Or you think it's ok for children to engage in prostitution and illegal drugs - without consequence.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if MTV did an honest "realistic" depiction of high school kids? Fat kids smoking cigarettes, littering, and playing video games until 4 a.m.? Or would that be too offensive?

Parents do not monitor teenagers' media. Unless a parent wants to spend 24/7 with their older children, it is IMPOSSIBLE to prevent them from seeing trash like this. What I'd like to see is all sponsors boycott the show.

As much as I understand the sentiment and agree that the show is nothing but trash, the time to monitor media exposure is well before the teen years. By the time the kids are able to watch TV without parental controls and have access to unfiltered and unmonitored internet there should already be a moral foundation. If there is then this is just more Animal House silliness.

This show is on Cable and should not be regulated by the FCC, especially when inadequate parenting is the real culprit.

 

[asterism]

You mustn't be a parent or teacher. Or you think it's ok for children to engage in prostitution and illegal drugs - without consequence.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if MTV did an honest "realistic" depiction of high school kids? Fat kids smoking cigarettes, littering, and playing video games until 4 a.m.? Or would that be too offensive?

Parents do not monitor teenagers' media. Unless a parent wants to spend 24/7 with their older children, it is IMPOSSIBLE to prevent them from seeing trash like this. What I'd like to see is all sponsors boycott the show.

do you think it's ok to murder, or do you want all the crime dramas where the killer is never caught to be taken off the air as well?

No elvis. I am not a proponent of murder.

I've never seen a TV show where the killer isn't caught, but I am not a fan of gratuitous violence either.

Gratuitous murder is alive and well on "Lifetime, Television for Women."

 

[strollingbones]

daytime soaps....hell what is that series...'snapped' i refer to it....as ...how not to kill your husband

i think the op loses a lot of crediablity with the most dangerous mal

 

[asterism]

I notice GT didn't answer.

How about you?

How many children do you have, Geauxto?

None.

Now tell me why that is germane.

That being the case, can you see where there may be a perspective here from which you cannot judge one of the arguments against the show? I'm generalizing greatly here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that those of us arguing against the merit of this show all have children. HAVING children, and IMAGINING having children, are two entirely different things (I IMAGINED having children before I actually had them, and it is an entirely UNIMAGINABLE reality, until you're there).

Further generalization.......I'll bet those arguing that the show is fine, there is nothing wrong with it, and its your right (which it certainly is) DO NOT have children.

I don't think that correlation (if I'm correct) is coincidental.

I have kids.

 

[asterism]

daytime soaps....hell what is that series...'snapped' i refer to it....as ...how not to kill your husband

i think the op loses a lot of crediablity with the most dangerous mal

Yup.

"Snapped" (2004) - Full cast and crew

 

[Zoom-boing]

I'll disagree, there. Not on the last sentence, but the middle paragraph.

Fair enough.

Do you have an alternate explanation?

Or do you just disagree?

Yes, I do. Echo Zulu's pov is the same as mine. She has children.

I can't imagine that you'd have any reason to believe me but fwiw I *do* know what it's like to care about someone else's well-being more than my own. With that, I already know and anticipate this will be true for my future child/children. Sure, perspectives change with experience. But the one about sheltering my kid from things vs. teaching my kid about the things instead...........won't change. That's a pretty solid part of my make-up that I don't anticipate changing.

Nor should you. You can teach/raise your children with morals and all the best of your experience. And then they hit the teen years and friends/outside influences come crashing down all around them and believe me, those outside influences/peer pressure are unbelievably strong. Why ask for even more trouble with crap like this? I've already stated that I block this shit in my house but seriously? The bar is in the gutter and needs to be raised.

Shows likes this, specifically aimed at teens, will influence teens. You may think 'oh no, not my kid' but in reality, you don't have teenagers and don't know what it's like. My youngest is 13 (14 on Feb 2) and her friends all watch Jersey Shore. wtF is wrong with their parents??? While I block it in my home there isn't much I can do from them telling her all about the adventures of Snookie and Company. I know what Snookies adventures are (I've already heard how 'cool' Snookie is from my youngest ) and am not really interested in putting any more ideas in my kid's head than are already out there in the real world she encounters every day.

Tuck the parental info in this thread away and try to reflect back on it years down the road when your kids are teenagers. If tv and the like is at the level it is now I can't even imagine what it will be like by the time your kids are that age.

 

[High_Gravity]

May not be a great idea, but it's just the way it is.

Typical fucking murkin.
That's exactly why that nation is FINISHED.

Still better than whatever pussy ass country you live in retard.

 

[High_Gravity]

The people on Jersey Shore are adults and the actors on Skins are kids right? big difference, Snookie getting hammered on Grey Goose all day and having meaningless sex is different than if a 15 year old girl does it.

 

[Mini 14]

Subway pulled their sponsorship today, Orbit Gum is expected to tomorrow. That will mean 5 of the 8 original sponsors have bailed.

MTV is standing by the show, and likely will sponsor it themselves after the remaining three pull out (Loreal, Foot Locker, and Extra Chewing Gum).

3 chewing gum sponsors.......

interesting observation there.

 

[NYcarbineer]

The people on Jersey Shore are adults and the actors on Skins are kids right? big difference, Snookie getting hammered on Grey Goose all day and having meaningless sex is different than if a 15 year old girl does it.

Different as in I wouldn't watch the former.

 

[draper]

Yes it may be a horrible show. I notice 16 and pregnant preceded it though hence teenagers don't really need nasty TV to show them what to do.

The kids dressed in black smoking weed outside my daughters high school this afternoon didn't suddenly start up a weed habit after watching Skins either. They've been doing it for years.

TV has an off switch - and most now have a parental control code where the parent can block certain channels.

 

[chanel]

Well 1.2 million kids watched it the first night (and how many more on rerun and internet?) and they don't all have bad parents. Sheez.

This show isn't going to make good kids pop pills and sell themselves for sex. But there are also many impressionable young people who have no guidance at home. At school we label them "at risk". And that encompasses just about everything. Esp. substance abuse.

Call me a compassionate conservative. I am a teacher. I happen to care about those kids.

I am glad sponsorships are being pulled. Kudos to those responsible companies.

 

[strollingbones]

lets see how many watch the 2nd show...i think viewership will be down...as for sponsors that is their affair....

 

[BrianH]

How many children do you have?

How does spitting out a couple of kids give you the latitude to decide what can and can't come across my television?

I never implied that.

Having children, I think it puts it in a different perspective than it might be perceived by someone who doesn't have children. I merely asked G.T. if he had any kids, as he stated he isn't offended by it at all.

Sorry if my post didn't fit neatly inside your little box

Exactly, people without kids have no frickin business telling people how they "should" be raising their kids. And you're right, someone without any kids may not be offended as someone with kids....He'll understand one day when daddy's little freshman is sitting in the driveway smoking pot and giving head to the senior captain of the football team.