“Skins” Creator Defends Show as “Old-Fashioned”

Some activists are calling it child porn, but the creator of MTV's "Skins" says the show is actually an old-fashioned show about values.

"Skins’ is a very simple and in fact rather old-fashioned television series,” co-creator Bryan Elsley said in a statement issued to MTV. “It's about the lives and loves of teenagers, how they get through high school, how they deal with their friends, and also how they circumnavigate some of the complications of sex, relationships, educations, parents, drugs and alcohol.”

The Parents Television Council differs, calling “Skins” the “most dangerous program ever for children.”

Elsley said the show, which has U.S. and U.K. versions, is a serious attempt to explore young people's lives.

“When viewers have taken the time to watch the show in a little more depth, they are less concerned about the behavior of the characters," Elsley said. "Teenagers can be loyal, supportive, dedicated, focused, and capable of making informed value judgments about their lives. In the pilot episode of 'Skins,' it's possibly easy to overlook the story wherein a young boy sets off to a party to sell drugs and have sex, but in fact, does neither of these things, because he senses that he has been manipulated by friends and does not feel ready to have sex with someone he does not know properly."

So far, Wrigley, H&R Block, General Motors and Taco Bell have pulled advertising from the show.

“We will continue to monitor every broadcast and every rebroadcast of ‘Skins’ so that we can inform the public which corporations are underwriting underage teen sex, underage teen drug use and underage teen alcohol use,” PTC President Tim Winter said.