March Madness - Skins US

When we were all introduced to Skins in the UK, most of its fans probably would have the same reaction as me: ‘here’s a show that’s different. It talks about teenagers, without talking to them. It’s not condescending or after-school special, it’s just well-made television.’ Or you know something along those lines.

The thing about British television is that it has always followed a very different business model to American television. There has always been a stronger focus on providing television that the government thinks people need to watch as opposed to what they want to watch. In America, it’s the opposite – capitalist television at it’s best. Of course, both have good and bad qualities.

As a result, though, there are strongly different cultures that surround content regulation on television.

Skins in the UK, therefore had a lot more freedom to show sixteen year olds having sex and taking drugs like their life is a final rave party before the world ends. Most American TV shows, while often great quality, have to appeal to sponsor values and have trouble showing sixteen-year-olds smoking a bong without a reverential priest telling them off or them at least learning the error of their ways before the end of the episode (and we all know those sixteen-year-olds are actually twenty-something’s in baseball caps and short-shorts).

So, when the UK Skins fans heard that there was to be a remake of it in the US, I think we all thought ‘there goes the essence of a great show.’

If that wasn’t worse enough, the pilot for the American remake is actually taken from the UK version word-for-word. Of course, in this episode it already becomes evident that there are qualities of the show lost. For example, all the swearing in the first show is changed for lighter, less offensive swear words.

Then we are taken into a slightly different territory as the storyline changes slightly. But as a viewer, the show has already lost me.

The British charm is lost, the acting isn’t great, and the characters aren’t as relatable. And, finally, yes, there is an added air of afterschool special.

Britain does grungy, and startlingly honest television very, very well and, in this case, it definitely should have stayed that way.

My only consolation for knowing that this show was made was knowing that it also did really poorly in the States.

Review by Jemma Nott

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March Madness - The Carrie Diaries

Sex and the City fans, you don’t have to suffer anymore! Your show hath returned in the form of a slightly more teen-fuelled Carrie. She’s younger, but still faaaabbulous and sexy – (but shhh, don’t say it cause she’s under-aged).

Or at least that’s what I would say if this show was, well, any of those things. The plug for this show had me going, I must admit. Having grown up on a steady diet of Sex and the City and pizza at girly sleepovers as a teen, I thought: ‘yes, another excuse to watch more junk food of the mind television that you hate to love, because really if you have an XX chromosone, it’s mandatory.’

However, this show turned out to be another lazy attempt to ride off the back of a good show that did well back in the day. Aside from the fact that 80’s fashion is kind of in right now, this show has nothing going for it. Teenagers will find it boring, because it’s not different or cutting edge like ‘Girls’ or ‘Skins’ and fans of ‘Sex and the City’ will find it boring because it’s too pre-menstrual – there’s just no sex. The characters are a bit too whiny and unrealistically naïve, making it all a bit after-school special.

Not too mention some basic stuff ups (this will show how much a hardcore Sex and the City fan I am), but in the show Carrie’s Mum has died and her Dad is still alive. But in ‘Sex and the City’ her Dad was the one who died when she was very young.

Then there’s the lazy and constant 80’s pop culture references, (Crowded House, Motley Crue, high-waisted jeans – it’s the 80’s we swear!).

This show is just one example in a long-standing fight against original programming and the plight to insult viewers with blatant numbers-hungry television.

Review by Jemma Nott

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Flashback February, Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I remember running home from school and immediately plonking myself down in front of the television. I would sigh to myself at having managed to finish yet another day in prison and what would greet me? Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Yes, ladies and germs it’s the 90’s and a simpler time. A time when we could all enjoy a light-hearted quip from a teenager and a surreptitious witch just trying to make her way in the world, dammit!

Although, the screenplay wasn’t the most sophisticated writing I have ever encountered, there was something to be said about never-ending entertainment. Of course, lasting entertainment was something the show could never faulted on. Sabrina lasted seven seasons and not too mention the movies it spawned – Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Sabrina Goes To Rome, and Sabrina, Down Under. She certainly got around, I mean she is a witch after all.

Despite a few cheaps jokes here and there, I’m sure many people have just as good memories as I do of this classic.

The show debuted in 1996 and we where first introduced to the character Sabrina played Mellissa Joan Hart, her aunts Hilda and Zelda played by Caroline Rhea and Beth Rhoderick and her talking cat Salem. Is it just me or does it seem like a quintessential American TV family has to have a talking animal to be successful?

Sabrina was an average American teenager just to trying to get through high school and encountering witch-based mishaps along the way. I must admit that, had I not been introduced to this show as a child, I might not have such fond memories of it as it doesn’t seem like a show written for someone in their 20’s.

All the same, Sabrina is a show with charm (and spells – that’s right, bad puns in true Sabrina style) and I believe it will be remembered that way.

Review by Jemma Nott

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