CULTURE: Skins Isn't Kiddie Porn, It's Just Lame (HOT)!

First things first: The MTV teen drama Skins doesn't dabble in child pornography, writes Jace Lacob in the Daily Beast. The scene in question featuring a teen boy's naked butt isn't even "remotely sexually suggestive," he writes, and thus doesn't meet the criteria for breaking indecency rules. In fact, the whole brouhaha smells like a publicity stunt and detracts us from the real problem with the show: "An appalling lack of quality."

The British original on which it is based "was groundbreaking in its honest depiction of millennial teenage life," and it skillfully "mined the rich interior lives of the lads and lasses of Bristol for narrative effect," he writes. This US version is "wooden" in comparison. It goes heavy on raunch for the sake of raunch, even if it doesn't break any laws. "Illegal or no, this cheap-looking remake doesn’t do the audience any favors."