Thursday, July 21, 2011

Skins: American vs the Original British

On a whim about a month ago I added skins to my netflix queue. I had seen previews for the american version on mtv mainly on the days that my friends would convince me to join them in one of their rooms to watch jersey shore. and if you are thinking jersey shore really you watch that, i'll get back to that later. Well after seeing all the previews i wanted to tune but after jersey shore my friends would turn some red carpet rate what they are wearing show on and wanting to stay and hang out or if it was during the time where i only let myself watch one tv show a day i usually did not get the chance to watch skins. I just figured hey i'll catch it some other time when mtv airs it like a million times like every other show they have. Well boy was i wrong (i'll get to that one later too). I never really saw it and then i forgot about it until i came across the uk version on netflix. After it sitting there in my queue for a coupe of weeks i decided what the heck i'm bored i'm going to watch this. Now, it was good, but nothing i was super excited about (probably because there were time were i just did not flat out understand what they were saying, both countries may speak english but british english and american english are two very different things). That very same night i decided to watch the first episode of the american version. it was EXACTLY the same except minor things like name changes and that the gay guy maxxie was now a lesbian named tea (pronounces tay-ah not like tea the drink if anyone wanted to know), but for some reason it caught my interest more than the uk version, possibly scratch that definitely  because the slang they were talking in was american slang and i understood it (sidebar wanker is the british word for jackoff or douchebag just though you would like to know). so i decided i was going to watch one episode of the uk version and one of the american back and forth and compare. it turns out that the second episode was different and then i looked up the names of each series (each episode conveniently named after the person it was about) and the were all jumbled up. Well two episodes was enough to get me hooked I started to feel a connection to the characters and watch every episode of the show (american that is) in less than 48 hours. I then went to look up when season 2 was coming out and was OBSESSIVELY dissapointed and sad and everything when i found out that they had cancelled the show (stay tuned the reason why to come). So i went back to watching the uk version and its good i can see why soooooooo many people love it but there is one thing missing. TEA! she was my favorite character. absolutely loved her so i can get my skins fill but not my tea fill because maxxie and tea although similar just aren't the same (another random sidebar just read that and read tea fill like the drink tea and now i want my theolo-tea fill).

So here's what i have come to.
1. American don't appreciate good tv the reasons why i say this
     a. every good show i watch gets cancelled every bad acting cheesey show i watch stays on for at least 4     seasons (not to say there aren't some good shows i watch/watched one tree hill ER friends that have lasted )
     b. good shows that have equal numbers of viewers to the bad ones (Jersey shore)  and is about pretty much the same thing (partying and having sex) get cancelled (because of an MA rating mtv can't play it millions and millions of times until people want to tear their eyes out if they even flip by that channel and see the same episode on again)
     c. Reality shows in general (all the same all we need is one like every year and we'd be fine)

so if you can't tell i'm bitter because i want to watch TEA but at least they know what's good in the uk so if you can stand to watch a show that is a little racier and pushing limits check it out... both american and uk versions

and to mtv if you wanna get away from the reality tv scene why would you cancel a good show but keep all the crappy ones (even if i occasionally watch them) and create new shows just like them (teen mom 2) it just doesn't make sense to me but whatevs i'm just an obsessive person that doesn't have any effect on tv any ways but maybe one day tv will be better filled with less of the same old things (well i can dream can't I)

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