US Skins...A weaker clone of the original

MTV Shows

Looking at this trailer for the new US adaptation of Skins I am filled with rage and sadness. I use the word "adaption" in the loosest of terms. What I should say is clone. This new version has the same names (mostly), stereotypes of characters, and storylines. Does changing one thing about a character constitute an adaption instead of a clone?

As a big fan of the UK version (I have the first three seasons from itunes) I am filled with sadness, because this new version seems to be a carbon copy of the original, minus the accents. The oh so wise, Tyra Banks once said, "if you are going to steal from someone, you need to make it better." Well, even though Jamie Britton (one of the creators of the original UK version) is a writer and executive producer he doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table and that is a huge disappointment.  My sadness is then followed by rage. Rage for the simple fact that the writers and producers weren't able to come up with an original story line for this new version, they had to blatantly steal the old one? 

Let me recap for you.
Tony, our lead male, needs to make his best friend, Sid...I mean Stan, lose his virginity strictly on the basis that if Stan is a virgin Tony can't be friends with him. (Are you kidding?) And Tony's slutty girlfriend offers to help by getting her psychology damaged friend Cassie...opps, I mean Katie, so fucked up that all she would just have to lie there, flowing in and out of conscience, while Stan "does his business." Now, let me check something...hold please...looking it up...here it is...yes, I was right...that is commonly referred to as "rape." (Rest assured readers, Spoiler alert, Stan doesn't rape Katie because she passes out, and being the upstanding virgin that he is, he gets the gang to steal a car and drive Katie to the hospital.) And then of course you have all the other characters, with their drug addictions, pressure to be prefect, pregnancy scares, discovery of sexuality and of course, the all encompassing "who am I, and who do I want to be?"

Look at what MTV says about Skins.
As much fun as it is to watch the hi-jinks of the pretty young (and rich) things of the Upper East Side every week, it's sometimes hard to relate to the rarefied world of Serena van der Woodsen and co. I mean, who has that many syllables in their surname? If you've been pining for a teen series that's grittier and more grounded in reality, let me introduce you to MTV's new series "Skins."

Don't even get me started on this ridiculous fucking statement. I can't...I won't...I need to take cool down moment. 

Here, for your viewing pleasure, I have some videos for you to watch while I "chill out" and let my rage lessen. A little, compare and contrast situation for you. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Look at this trailer for the US version:
src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:videolist:mtv.com:1650336" width="512" height="319" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashVars="configParams=id%3D1650336%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideolist%3Amtv.com%3A1650336" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base=".">


Now look at this from the UK version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlSaMD9Slio


Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Leave them below.