Skins 3 a Sell Out?

Season 3. Stereotypes. Cliche. Banal TV for suburban tweens whose parents have too much dosh. Done.

The first episode sets the tone for the whole season and by the looks of it, the Brits too, can sell out. Download it if you must but be forewarned. It's like 90210 with ACTUAL teenagers as opposed to 40 year olds trying to look like 'em. It's like Degrassi with accents and pot. Oh I hate to say this out loud..... but it's bordering on Ready Or Not ......without the drums. You know what it is? It's Skins season 1 but without any of the good stuff. In fact, Effy, who WAS a great character who carried over onto the new seson, doesn't even seem like the same person. She's lost her dark and gothic silence. She's just a predictable slag. Do the writers expect us to believe she has to manipulate the boys just to get laid? It's high school and she's well fit. Plus, she was trained by the master, Tony, her big brother. She is smarter than that and if she's going through the trouble of manipulating a gaggle of boys it would be for something more useful.

The only other character introduced last season was Penelope - a fairly pathetic and naive young lady too innocent for her own good. Great sidekick for Effy, the dark horse. The possiblities there are endless and yet they've turned Penelope into a bumbling Six from Blossom!

As for the other characters I'm not even sure they're worth mentioning. The nerdy brainiac, (can't act), THE GUY WITH THE FEDORA (from Degrassi) who will inevitably fall for Effy and experience unrequited love, the drunken jock who has boobs on the brain (the biggest loser of all is the first to get lucky?!).

The one interesting character is the quiet-going-to-go-postal twin. Maybe that willl turn into something but her sister is so cliche I can barely watch. I mean, the good twin bad twin story is well over done and better suited to comedy or daytime soaps. It's like All My Children without Todd and Thad. Like Another World without Vicky and Marley.

Looks like season 3 will be a yard sale. Another one bites the dust. It was too good to be true.