It’s official: Naomily is coming to America! Well, not Naomily exactly, but MTV did announce this morning that after two years of negotiations, they’ve landed the rights to remake Skins for an American audience.
Admittedly, Americans haven’t always done a great job with foreign television imports (See: Coupling, Kath and Kim, Football Wives, and on and on).
But before you start panicking about Skins‘ leap from Bristol to Baltimore, consider this good news: Bryan Elsley, co-creator of Skins, is going to write and produce the new Americanized version. Plus, MTV says it’s committed to drafting teenagers to help write the show (just like in the UK).
MTV’s senior vice president of series development, Liz Gateley, said in a statement:
Skins is one of those rare shows that cuts through to its core audience with unusually authentic stories due to the unique writing and casting process that Bryan [Elsley] pioneered. Having personally pursued the UK project for almost two years, I am beyond thrilled to bring it to MTV in the US. We intend to preserve the authenticity of the British version and are excited to collaborate with the original team to develop stories that will speak to American youth.
You hear that? MTV is going to preserve the authenticity of the British version. That should be interesting. I’ve never been in a discussion about Skins in which someone didn’t say, “Dude, they’d never show this on American TV” in reference to, say, the alcohol or the drugs or the sex or the swearing.
Or, you know, the girls falling in love and making out down by the lake.
There’s no word yet about whether or not MTV is going to a character-by-character replication of Skins, and if they do, which series they’ll start with. My guess is that they’ll start with third series reboot. Not only did it win the 2009 Audience Award BAFTA, it cornered the market on teen viewers, bringing in 61 percent of 16-34 year olds. (That’s an orgasmic statistic for advertisers.)
It’s OK to be worried; no one wants to see their favorite couple misrepresented by prudish Americans. But Spashley is no more. American TV needs a new lesbian teen super couple.
Besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to track down and watch an entire episode of Skins on YouTube? Someone’s always yanking down the good parts!
What do you think of MTV’s decision to remake Skins?
