My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
The folks over at MTV find themselves in the midst of yet another flap over a controversial program on the network again. Now that's hardly a new place for the former Music Television network but this one has an interesting twist because it calls into question not just the actions of the network but of anyone who watches the program as well.
The show in question is "Skins". This is an American version of a hugely popular British series. It is a drama about teenagers and the things that go on in their lives. In that it is hardly unique we've had shows on the networks, PBS and cable channels that deal with the issues in one manner or another for decades. Skins is different because it is much more graphic.
Now I've never watched the show so I jumped over the MTV web site to check out some streamed episodes. Here's what I discovered watching the most current episode available that day.
It opens with illicit drug use, the use of a fake ID, picking up someone at a club, having sex with them all before a single word of dialogue is spoken. The first dialogue is the same character lying to her father. That was the first four minutes of the program. From there it wasn't until we hit the 10 minute mark before we got something that was not related to sex somehow. That followed with more of the same plus the addition of drinking in school. The adults were predictably all idiots. MTV claims that the show "confronts" all these issues but I don't see it. They are certainly a part of the lives of too many of our teens but no solution is shown unless you count drinking MORE and having more sex as solutions. I don't.
I have no idea why any adult would watch this and the interesting problem is that these are real teens playing the roles, one of them is only 15 years old. Which means you are watching underage people in sexual situations. Which in many jurisdictions is called child pornography. MTV is trying to figure out what do about that particular problem. The ratings for the debut of the second season were incredible but they fell off significantly for the second week. Rumors say they still out performed network expectations.
Helping our teenagers figure out how to deal with all the pressures of life is one of the most important gifts we can give them. MTV could be a huge influence in helping them. Instead they're peddling something very close to pornography. They and we would be better off if they focused a little more on the confrontation and a little less on the skin.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
The folks over at MTV find themselves in the midst of yet another flap over a controversial program on the network again. Now that's hardly a new place for the former Music Television network but this one has an interesting twist because it calls into question not just the actions of the network but of anyone who watches the program as well.
The show in question is "Skins". This is an American version of a hugely popular British series. It is a drama about teenagers and the things that go on in their lives. In that it is hardly unique we've had shows on the networks, PBS and cable channels that deal with the issues in one manner or another for decades. Skins is different because it is much more graphic.
Now I've never watched the show so I jumped over the MTV web site to check out some streamed episodes. Here's what I discovered watching the most current episode available that day.
It opens with illicit drug use, the use of a fake ID, picking up someone at a club, having sex with them all before a single word of dialogue is spoken. The first dialogue is the same character lying to her father. That was the first four minutes of the program. From there it wasn't until we hit the 10 minute mark before we got something that was not related to sex somehow. That followed with more of the same plus the addition of drinking in school. The adults were predictably all idiots. MTV claims that the show "confronts" all these issues but I don't see it. They are certainly a part of the lives of too many of our teens but no solution is shown unless you count drinking MORE and having more sex as solutions. I don't.
I have no idea why any adult would watch this and the interesting problem is that these are real teens playing the roles, one of them is only 15 years old. Which means you are watching underage people in sexual situations. Which in many jurisdictions is called child pornography. MTV is trying to figure out what do about that particular problem. The ratings for the debut of the second season were incredible but they fell off significantly for the second week. Rumors say they still out performed network expectations.
Helping our teenagers figure out how to deal with all the pressures of life is one of the most important gifts we can give them. MTV could be a huge influence in helping them. Instead they're peddling something very close to pornography. They and we would be better off if they focused a little more on the confrontation and a little less on the skin.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
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