It was bound to happen, but I didn't think it would get this bad.
TMZ and The Hollywood Reporter have announced that the Parent Television Council (PTC, for short) have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as both the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees, requesting for a Federal investigation into MTV's new teens gone wild drama Skins, citing child pornography as the basis for their complaints.
That is a serious offense, people.
In a part of the letter, the PTC declares that Viacom, the company behind MTV, VH1, BET, etc., purposely allowed for explicit material on the show to be broadcast and in the process may have violated "several anti-child pornography laws." In addition to the initial claim, the PTC had this to say in the letter:
"In addition to the sexual content on the show involving cast members as young as 15, PTC counted 42 depictions and references to drugs and alcohol in the premiere episode."
The fifteen year old cast member in question is Eleanor Zichy, who portrays the character of Eura on the show. All of the other cast members are ages 17 and above, capping off at 20 years old. It's good to point out that the actress who played the UK version of Eura, Kaya Scodelario, was 15 also at the time Skins premiered in the UK in 2007, with other cast members being barely 17 at the time as well.
However, a teen at the age of 17 is still considered a minor here in the States. Actor Jesse Carere, who portrays Chris in the series, is 17 and might be the actual target of the "investigation" instead of Zilchy's character, since Chris's upcoming storyline involves Viagra and some brief nudity. While I have not seen that episode (#3) in it's entirety, I do know that is a retelling of the show's British source material, which I have seen, and it's pretty out there. However, Joseph Dempsie, the actor portraying Chris in the UK version of Skins, was about 19 when he performed the scene in question.
I knew the show would ruffle a few feathers, but I didn't think it would get this crucial.
Another thing to note in this debacle is the timing of the PTC's march on Washington, which came a day after The New York Times published an article written by Brian Stetler about Viacom execs discussing the content on Skins and the possibility of toning down the show in future airings. The article mentioned how the Viacom president and execs were worried about how the show "violate federal child pornography statutes" and the execs ordering for the producers to mitigate future episodes. Could the PTC had been planning this attack all along, or was the New York Times piece the ammunition they needed to help solidify their claims of Skins being the "most dangerous show for teens?"
While MTV has yet to admit to such a meeting, a statement was released by the network concerning the matters:
“Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way. We review all of our shows and work with all of our producers on an ongoing basis to ensure our shows comply with laws and community standards. We are confident that the episodes of Skins will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers."
Compared to the UK series, the Skins USA has been deemed "tame" in comparison in terms of story and content. The Bristol teens that occupy the show's world are far more reckless and promiscuous, but at the same time, the general fanbase considers the lifestyle a bit exaggerated and even dubs it 'fantasy' in some aspects. However, that sentiment might be a bit too little, too late over here in the U.S. of A.
As this article was being written, The Hollywood Reporter broke news that Taco Bell, one of the show's sponsors, decided to pull their ads from the show after PTC urged a boycott of the restuarant for airing ads during the show.
"We advertise on a variety of MTV programs that reach our core demographic of 18 to 34 year olds, which included the premiere episode of Skins," Rob Poetsch, spokesperson for Taco Bell told THR. "Upon further review, we’ve decided that the show is not a fit for our brand and have moved our advertising to other MTV programming," he added.
Yikes!
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, TMZ, The New York Post, THR
Being in Australia I don't know much about the PTC, but if they're anything like the AFA (Australian Family Association) that bitch and moan about so many shows (along with their objections to things outside of TV) then MTV should take they're objection as a compliment. The AFA try and hide it but they're clearly a bunch of extreme right-wing Christians nutjobs.
And yet if they were shooting at each other and waving guns around, there wouldn't be an issue.
The US TV rules are somewhat backward. Guess what people… Teenagers have sexual encounters, regardless of the age of majority!