MTV says it won’t be bringing back its racy teen drama Skins for a second season.
The show “didn’t connect with a U.S. audience as much as we had hoped,” MTV spokesman Nathaniel Brown said Thursday in an announcement that should have surprised no one.
A hit on British television, Skins premiered on MTV in January in an Americanized version. But an initial audience of 3.3 million viewers shrank to 1.2 million viewers for the season finale.
Meanwhile, a TV watchdog group blasted the show’s content. Criticism was further inflamed when a newspaper story suggested that scenes with underage actors might violate federal child pornography laws.
A number of advertisers pulled their commercials from the series, which depicted teens engaging in sexual activity as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
MTV SKINS “Reverse Party” Extended Promo from Spy Films on Vimeo.