American audiences won’t be seeing more ‘Skins,’ as the controversial new teen drama series has been canceled after only one season, TVLine is reporting. The show, which was based on the hit, critically praised British series of the same name, stirred up debate when the Parents Television Council (PTC) called it “the most dangerous television show for children that we have ever seen.”
The PTC asked the federal government to investigate ‘Skins’ for possible child pornography and exploitation. Like the British version, the show employed many underage teens to play characters of the same age. Many advertisers, including Taco Bell, Wrigley, Schick and L’Oréal, then pulled out of the show. MTV decided to air the entire season anyway, and only made minor changes to the more risque scenes.
‘Skins,’ which aired its last original episode on March 21, 2011, “is a global television phenomenon that, unfortunately, didn’t connect with a US audience as much as we had hoped,” MTV officials said in a statement. They added that they “admire the work that the series’ creator Bryan Elsley did in adapting the show for MTV, and appreciate the core audience that embraced it.”
While ‘Skins’ debuted to an audience of 3.3 million people, it lost half of its audience for the second episode. While the ratings slightly increased for the end of the season, the finale only drew in 1.2 million viewers.
Written by: Karen Benardello
