Skins Vs. Gossip Girl

Been a while, sorry.


To be honest with you, I’m not a terrible fan of mainstream things. The Jonas Brothers annoy the hell out of me, I think MTV should just go away and never come back, and don’t get me started on Hannah Montana. I don’t dislike them because others like them, I merely dislike them because I think they are stupid. So, as I’m sure you can imagine, after hearing about the television show, Gossip Girl, that aired in America sometime last year, I quickly wrote it of as annoying and never watched an episode.

This may be a close minded way to look at things, but have you read the story line for that thing? I hate High School and all the bitchy-ness that goes along with it as it is, I don’t need to come home and watch it on television as well.

Now, when Skins came out, I was immediately hooked on the show. To be honest I’m not a big television watcher, but I wanted to see the programme. It was different and caught my attention. I was expecting a Holly Oaks type, mediocre, but still entertaining soap opera, I was wrong.

Skins, much to my surprise, isn’t about a load of bitchy, immature but cocky teenagers with an agenda, its about a load of immature, and still cocky teenagers, who don’t have an agenda, and that’s just half the problem.

The characters don’t purposely hurt each other, there’s no big scheme to ruin someone’s reputation for personal gain. It’s about a group of college kids in England that all have personal issues and teenage angst, yet the characters raunchy sense of humour keep it a funny show to watch. Each character has some issue going on that their best friends may or may not know about. There’s something that makes them tick, and something that fuels their; sometimes stupid, sometimes daring and sometimes brave actions.

Now, back to Gossip Girl. I watched my first episode the other night, and I actually quite liked it. Although there is by no means any comparison to the Skins storyline. The characters aren’t very deep, except for Chuck Bass, but more on him in a moment. Mainly its interesting because of the stunts the characters pull, the clothes they wear, the fabulous lives they lead, and lets not forget the gossip. Its not beautifully written and doesn’t dive into the teenage psyche and stay a while. You will think about the characters as you sit through an episode, but the only thing you may be left thinking about a few hours later is Blair’s dress.

Alright, now its Bass time. First of all, he is an interesting character, maybe my favourite thus far. The whole thing about his personality maybe or maybe not being affected by the fact that he might have, or might have not “killed” his mother as she gave birth to him, is quite interesting. But why does he always show his ankles? For God’s sake, cover up, this is the CW. Okay, not really, but he’s meant to be loaded, can’t he buy some socks? And my other issue with him, he
always looks annoyed, I get its part of the character, but honestly he needs to drop the entire monotone act, or he may not be my favourite for very long. When ever he talks to someone, it seems as if he’s thinking “What do you want, you disgusting mortal? I’ve got people to kill,” and it’s getting a bit boring. He needs to hit someone, or have a breakdown or something, because no one wants to watch a moody statue for an hour every week. I still thinks he has potential though.

In the battle between Skins and Gossip Girl, Skins wins single handedly. Gossip Girl is an interesting programme, and I do regret that I didn’t watch it sooner, but its nothing to rave about, its an interesting programme and should just be taken for what it is, a controversial, teenage television show.