The Worst of Television

[Magnum]

On the Skins debate - it always struck me that Skins was made for adolescents to sell them the glamourised image of what their late teens was going to be like, while The Inbetweeners was more for young adults to laugh about looking back at what their teens was actually like. Until they spoiled it all in the film by letting them all pull Hollyoaks types for the Hollywood ending to hook the Skins audience.

The Inbetweeners is no more realistic than Skins, in terms of sex and drugs. There was plenty of drugs and sex going on around me in my late teens, just not much that I was involved in because of being a wrestling fan. I never had a mate who got hit by a bus and went mental, but I never had a mate who got into a feud with a bus of mongols who destroyed his car either. I never had a mate.

 

And nobody at all went to see The Inbetweeners movie because they were a Skins fan with a Hollywood-ending addiction.

 

They definitely made a bigger push for the T4 audience from the third series onwards - the fuckers were never off those shows presented by bargain basement Steve Jones impersonators and stick-thin girls with ethnic names and blazers.

 

I think it is more realistic for the majority, although bits are obviously played up for comedy. It does feature representations of sex, drugs and getting pissed, but it's the cringeworthy awkardness and mundanity of them all that are stressed - which is how most teen behaviour, particularly the stuff you think is achingly cool at the time, generally looks to adults and with hindsight, as opposed to slow motion and a Kings of Leon soundtrack.

 

EDIT: In qualifying this, I will say that there's a chance Skins also tackled these issues in more depth and with more irony than I'm giving it credit for, but I decided I couldn't stand it after the first episode or so and the glossy adverts and billboards, so never stuck around to find out.

[Fox Piss]

I always found the main problem with Skins was the one character/one episode lark. A free flowing show would of made it a lot better.

[GalaxyV.2]

I thought Skins 1-2 was fine teenage drama, I remember the one where Sid's Dad played by Peter Capaldi dies, it was pretty great.

 

I like how in the first series Tony was a complete prick only to literally smash him and build him up again.

 

It had its time though.

 

On The Walking Dead. It just can't make its mind up what audience its aiming for. Kill off Lori, get out of the house and let Shane go mental killing fucking Zombies.

[Vamp]

I always found the main problem with Skins was the one character/one episode lark. A free flowing show would of made it a lot better.

 

I think the format's probably one of the best things its got going for it.