MTV takes on BBC’s “Skins”

In January, MTV premiered a remake of "Skins," the hit British television series about teenagers in sixth form in Bristol. The original, critically-acclaimed "Skins" developed a cult following for tackling controversial subjects like substance abuse, eating disorders, dysfunctional families, homosexuality and death. The MTV series, based on the first two seasons of the original, is notable thus far mainly for featuring copious amounts of sex and drugs.

The third episode of the series, "Chris," sticks to the original British story line very closely, but there are a few notable new plotlines. In the original, Chris's mother leaves him on his own with nothing but a thousand dollars (which he promptly spends), and a homeless man runs him out of his house, completely nude. But the writers also added a subplot in which Tea flashes her breasts to the gang because she promised to do so if Stanley and Cadie had sex (they didn't, but said they did).

The acting in the MTV series is very contrived compared to the original. Since the remake copied most of the lines of the original, the quality of the script is controlled, which draws attention to the highly disappointing quality of acting. The original characters were either reduced to monotonous voices and lifeless eyes or completely scrapped in favor of a completely different character. Nicholas Hoult portrayed the British Tony Stonem, who effortlessly manipulated the other members of the gang and whose snarky remarks walked the line between funny and cold. He charmed the audience with his mischievous smile, swagger and intelligence. James Newman's portrayal of American Tony was off; he delivered his Tony-isms without emotion—at times it seemed like he was reading them from a cue card.

Overall, the cast's acting was shallow, although some actors, particularly Rachel Thevenard (Michelle), Daniel Flaherty (Stanley) and, at times, Jesse Carere (Chris),  were a little more convincing.

One of the worst decisions MTV made was to get rid of Maxxie, an openly gay, lovable, funny aspiring dancer. Even though he was a somewhat secondary character in the original, he still had a major influence on the show. MTV replaced Maxxie with Tea, a mysterious, wild, clever, alluring and openly lesbian young woman.

Tea's confidence is refreshing, but at times she seems to be trying too hard to assert her independence and boldness. MTV stated that they added Tea because Sofia Black-D'Elia's audition was amazing and they wanted to make the show more relatable. It's not clear why Maxxie wouldn't be just as relatable as Tea, but it's admirable of MTV to keep an openly gay character.

The name changes of the other characters (Anwar to Abbud, Sid to Stanley, Cassie to Cadie, Jal to Daisy) are completely superficial, and the changes in gender and race, allegedly intended to make the series more relatable to American audiences, are similarly unnecessary. Furthermore, the writers' attempts to translate British slang to American slang are clunky; they would have done so much better if they had talked to actual teens or young adults.

Overall, the remake of "Skins" is disappointing. Rather than satisfying the viewer, it inspires a craving for the original series. MTV would have been better off showing the original with the curse words and nudity edited out.

In the original series, the issues broached are relatable regardless of nationality, the quality of acting is phenomenal, the writing is amazing and Americans can delight in actors with cool British accents saying British slang terms like "safe" and "spliffing."

Interested in checking them out for yourself?

The U.S. "Skins" airs on Mondays at 10 p.m. on MTV.

The U.K. "Skins" can be found on Netflix.