Overlooked and Overexposed: Skins (US)

So, I guess this will be my first official blog post on The Nocturnal Night Blogger. I've privatised my old blog that I had since I was twelve and I'm sixteen now and am in need of some change. The url to my old blog got childish (what kind of url is superstarrsophie? i mean, really? it was cute then yeah sure when you're 12 NOT when you're 16 nu uh) over the years and don't get me started on the hundreds of embarrassing old posts I typed onto that old blog of mine. No one was gonna take me seriously with a silly url like that now that I've started blogging my opinions, thoughts and rants on there. It's time to start fresh! Fine, not so fresh since I re-posted four of my latest and most proud blog posts from my old blog. Credits go to my lovely cousin from Unraveled who helped me with the design on this blog.

Not mine. Cast of Skins US.
(from left) Chris, Tea, Abbud, Tony, Michelle, Daisy, Stanley, Cadie and Eura.

Okay, so I'm not gonna lie here. I'm going to be honest with you. Before I properly got into Skins this year,  a few years back I watched a lot of the fan videos on Youtube just to give me a teaser of what the show is all about and yes, like many others I instantly came to the conclusion that all the show was about is reckless teenage behaviour and the like. Through those fan videos, I came to ship Naomily from Generation 2 of Skins UK, Maxxie/Tony from Generation 1 of Skins UK and Freddie/Effy from Generation 2 of Skins UK. Through online posts and talk from my friends who were fans of the show, I immediately hated Skins US. I haven't even tried to watch it but I immediately hated it and found myself telling everyone that "Skins US is sh*t! Skins UK is the best!" Yup, judge me all you want.

Fast forward to this year where something in me made me start and finish watching all the seasons from 1 to 6 in about 2 weeks only, I also decided to try watching Skins US. You know, just to give it a try and see why everyone says it's so sh*t and why I, myself had called it sh*t a few years back. You see, in 2011, MTV decided to do a remake of Skins UK. This decision angered a lot of Skins fans from all over and if you go through most if not all videos of both Skins UK and US, you will definitely come across comments about how Skins US was sh*t and Skins UK was forever the best and then, there are comments about how someone actually liked Skins US but of course, it will never compare to the original that is the one, the only Skins UK.

Skins US had a lot of potential to be something good but too bad it only lasted one season. I actually, honest to God I liked it. I can't believe I said that it was sh*t before this. It's not all that bad actually. Of course if you want to analyse everything that's different about it compared to the original then, you might think it's sh*t but if you just watch it by itself and not know that it is indeed a remake of the UK series then, it's actually quite good. I'm just saying. Most of the plot is the same but there is a pretty big plot twist that happens in the middle of the first season that makes me wish so badly that someone would pick up this show and continue it themselves. If I had the money and the people behind me, I'd pick this show up again despite the many angered people I'd have to lash out at me.

They changed most of the names of the characters on the show. Tony Stonem is a Tony Snyder, Effy Stonem is a Eura Stonem, Sid Jenkins is a Stanley Lucerne, Chris Miles a Chris Collins on here, Anwar Kharral is an Abbud Sidiqui, Jal Fazer is a Daisy Valero, Cassie Ainsworth is a Cadie Campbell, Maxxie Oliver is a Tea Marveli and Michelle Richardson's name is retained.

Tea was a shock. A pleasant shock. Maxxie in Skins UK is a gay character who is a dancer whereas in Skins US, they've replaced his character with a lesbian Tea who is a cheerleader. I really liked Tea's character a lot. She was just......amazing. (i'm sorry but when i love something/someone so much and i have no other words to describe them without going all kjnfjkwnkaef, i end up saying amazing so i'm sorry in advance if i use the word amazing a lot on this blog. you have been warned!) She was pretty confused. She was almost sure of her sexuality. She loved Bette but she also loved Tony and how can that be? She was sure she was a lesbian so that plot twist was great. This also reminded me of the very brief Tony/Maxxie romantic moment in Skins UK which unfortunately, wasn't explored much as much as I wished it was because I don't know, some part of me wishes to believe that Tony was a bit confused between loving his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Michelle and wanting one of his friends in the gang, Maxxie to the horror of my Tony-loving friend. Tony/Tea's relationship in Skins US was great and was explored well. It could've been explored more if only they continued the show but nope, they didn't and nope, I will not get into that again or this post will be longer than it already is. Tony and Tea wanted each other just as much and this was confusing to the both of them. Their ending at the last episode could've meant something more for the both of them. Everyone in their gang knows about the two of them. Both of their girlfriends know but they're still with them and this confuses them and me as their shipper, watcher.

Tea and Tony

Not mine but wow, aren't they the cutest? ((they're dating in real life))

I don't even particularly like Tony from Skins UK and yet, I'm still trying to compare him with the Tony mentioned above. Tony in Skins US is a bit dull and lacks character, if I'm being honest but oh well, since it's a remake of the original, nothing can be perfect and exactly like the original.

Michelle and Stanley

Not mine.

I didn't really like Michelle in Skins UK, to be honest as much as I think her and Tony deserve each other. I thought she was a bit desperate and pathetic but I'm glad somewhere in Generation 1, she became her own woman and decided when enough was enough. I really liked Michelle in Skins US because she was her own woman and got back up really quickly when she found out about Tony's cheating. She wasn't all mopey and sad about it, she was angry of course but she was cool, calm and fine maybe not so classy about it. That girl was a right badass!

I can't compare Sid and Stanley. They're both different yet they are just the same and unlike, in Skins UK where I hated the idea of Michelle and Sid together, I actually liked seeing Michelle and Stanley on here.

Abbud and Daisy

I don't know what to say about them, they're just really cute and I hope this video does the explaining.

So, overall I guess Skins US isn't as bad as I thought it was, not as bad as I was told it was either. It's actually pretty good. One thing that stops them from being as good or as close to being anywhere near the original is the fact that America is not as open as the UK. Skins US has no nudity and censors most if not all curse words used in the character's dialogues and even that received a lot of complaints from the parents of America. I mean, I'm pretty most of your teenagers do even worst things if not the same things that are shown on the show and compared to the original, this is nothing. 

I loved the reviews from here, here and here.