'Skins' Star Defends Show: 'It's What Teens Are Doing'

By Rob Shuter Posted Jan 21st 2011 03:16PM

While MTV's new show 'Skins' takes heat for being too hot (critics equate it to child pornography and advertisers are pulling out), one thing's for sure: It almost certainly makes a star out of Sofia Black-D'Elia, who plays a lesbian teen on the controversial series. Sofia defends 'Skins' on my HDNet show 'Naughty But Nice With Rob,' telling me people should watch before they judge.

"It's pushing the boundaries for teen drama because I think 'Skins' goes where other shows are afraid to," Sofia says, arguing that she believes most of the controversy is tied to the fact that the cast is comprised of actual teens whose characters are "doing these things," like having sex and doing drugs.

Sofia, 18, defends the show, saying, "It's what teens are doing. It's the way teenagers believe, I think, especially you know in certain situations when you come from home lives where your parents don't really support you or really listen to you. That's what most of these kids are going through."

She added, "And so, um, the drugs and the sex, they're vices, and that's what teenagers have."

'Skins' debuted Monday to 3.3 million viewers, most of them between ages 12-34. Since then a major sponsor, Taco Bell, has pulled its advertising, and on Thursday the influential Parents Television Council, a TV watchdog group, called for a federal child porn probe.

MTV isn't shaken, saying in a statement that they are "confident that the episodes of 'Skins' will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers."

Further, a TV executive who knows about all the inner workings of MTV tells me that the network has always parlayed controversy into ratings and that nothing will be different about 'Skins.'

"At the end of the day controversy mean ratings," my source says. "MTV has always been know for addressing teen and young people's issues and concerns with respect and honesty."

With such huge ratings for the debut, 'Skins' will not be going anywhere soon, and neither will young actress Sofia Black-D'Elia. Trust me, this talented young lady, who you may have seen on 'All My Children,' will be around for a long time. See for yourself: 'Skins' airs Mondays at 10PM.

To watch my entire interview with Sofia and hear what Joan Rivers really thinks of Sarah Palin, tune into 'Naughty But Nice With Rob,' Saturdays at 1 PM and again at 7 PM, exclusively on HDNet. Don't have HDNet? Call your cable company!

Follow Rob on Twitter for Scoop All Day Long!

Tags: Naughty But Nice With Rob, skins, Sofia Black DElia

Comments

(119)

Friday 21 January

By Jaz

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

If shows influence teens then all teens will be effected not just those select few. But please by all means take it of so teens all around the world will still do these things behind your back.

By Cindy Stauffer

solomeeo........does your mother know she gave birth to a moron or it just in the family jeans?

Vote down Vote up Report this

oops, sorry, meant GENES

By sam

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Well evidently you're the moron Cindy considering you can't even differentiate between jeans and genes. Don't call someone out for being stupid when you're the one who clearly fits that description.

By ajschrod

They DO worry about that! You're picking up on the "hate anything Obama" crowd by dwelling on that nutrition plug that she was speaking up for, but that's exactly the type of things first ladies are SUPPOSED to do. Laura Bush was a librarian, so her kick was reading, but since Michelle is black and many black people are obese, it was a good spot for her. That "liberal" crap has gotten stale, so write something "positive" instead of aping Rush Limbaugh!

By Dennis Robart

Teens may be doing it, but that doesn't make it proper for television viewing.... Talk about depicting things like this- reflects a lack of parental involvement or supervision in the lives of those who emulate this kind of unnecessary so-called 'realism' television productions ... I smell legal troubles REAL soon, folks!

I think anything that happens in real life is proper for tv because at least when ones child views it they could talk about it as its on tv whereas theres no talk when they experience it in school.

By dedo

ACTUALLY, this is happening in real life. my friends get drunk and party almost every weekend. When you don't have strict parents or they've just given up on stopping them, it does happen.Now that weed has no effect on them, people are moving on to alcohol,shrooms, ecstasy... it is happening. does it need to be on tv so that everyone will think it is cool... no it dosen't. You can't even throw a birthday party without some kind of drug or it wont be labeled as a "fun time"

By Lisa

your friends sounds like real winners. Just because your crowd of neglected burn-outs does this every weekend, doesn't mean all teens are doing it. For every one of you there is a hard working student that respects their parents, and wants to get into a good school. They want a life that is more than just who OD'd this week. Just because your friends do it, and it's all over tv still doesn't make it right. You admitted yourself they all have problems at home, there are some that don't! Why do you have to get high or drunk to have a good time at a party?

It all depends where you live, dedo. Some cities and towns are hip and swinging while others go play bingo at the firehall with their moms twice a week. Yeah, pot, booze and sex is not hard to find, when you never start with it you don't miss it!

By Bonnie

Of course an ACTRESS on this show will support it! Is SHE raising kids? NO!!!! Does she have experience with morals? NO!!! Does show 'business' care about parental concerns? Of course not!!! If the FCC allows it, they will use sex wherever they can because it attracts eveballs!!! If someone offers the public poison wrapped as candy, the public will take it, again and again!!! Suckers!!!

By Ivy

I'm a teen, and I don't do that crap. The show is stereotypical.Yeah, sure some teens are doing those things. But there's no reason to promote it or glamorize it. The show makes sleeping around with random people and getting high look like it has no consequences. When in reality it does.

By Avory

Thank you!I agree! I am a teen, and I dont do any of the stuff theyre talking about! And some people are blaming the parents, but the truth is that its not always them. I know alot of kids whos parents arent involved alot in their life, and they dont do this kind of stuff...

Saturday 22 January

By kelly

Amen girls! And good for you! These were some of the best responses I have seen. You two sound like my friends and me when we were teens. We were too interested in our extra-curricular activities to even think about drinking or drugs. We had parents who came and watched and were involved in our lives. We all knew who the 'druggies' were and while we could be friends with them all, we didn't have to follow their footsteps.

By exoticdoc2

So just because some people do something wrong that is reason to celebrate and glamorize it? Such sound reasoning.

Thursday 27 January

By B

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the american version has nothing on the original. i wonder what the prudish american public would think if they were to watch it.

By dreolin

I also would like to point out that the original Skins is a BBC production, and the UK has a higher teen pregnancy rate than the United States. One of the articles from the other day regarding the show talked about how it was more accepted there (the UK) to show this sort of behavior (sexuality) of teens than it is in the United States. And they wonder why their teen pregnancy rate is so high, and if I remember correctly, is still rising.

By Kate

The British version of Skins isn't a BBC production.

By Kristen

Dreolin, I don't know where you get your statistics from, but the US has a WAY higher teenage pregnancy rate than the UK. In fact, the US has the highest teen pregnancy rate amongst all other industrialized nations.

By firecrow66

Everyone says television and video games don't affect children. Well, I guess Sesame Street and Dora do not children learn either. Can't have it both ways.

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