Skins and other stuff

So this has been a fairly hyped event the return of Skins easily one of the most identifiably British programs out there and also seemingly one of the best exports of the British TV industry around the world. Don’t believe the hype around Doctor Who it is a good show but nothing sells quite like teenagers drinking, taking drugs and having sex.

I came to Skins pretty late I missed the first class so to speak I just didn’t think it would be for me and the sheer amount of hype just put me off the initial series I remember it was even big on Myspace. Anyway I decided to take a chance on the new group and was pleasantly surprised by the show, that and the fact that the female cast was absolutely gorgeous helped a lot to ensure I made it a regular appointment to catch the series on E4 every week.

Onto the current season and the first episode of the new season. To put it succinctly I didn’t think all that much of it, indeed the most interesting thing I found from it was the fact that Frankie is Dakota Blue Richards who came to the public’s notice when she was named as Lyra Belaqua in the Golden Compass the film adaption of the first book in His Dark Materials.
She has a definite interesting look, pretty but something more than that and I have at least some hope that she and the series will get better.

The first of the Southern Vampire series which most will know as the book series that inspired True Blood. I wasn’t entirely sure about reading the book series after watching the show, I have found in the past the show can somewhat ruin the books if you go in that order as the character development is already fairly set in stone as far as the viewer is concerned. For instance the jarring differences between the Dexter books and TV show took some getting used to but eventually I found that the books offered a more rounded Dexter in my view while also not needing to do the same old will Debra find out his secret thing that drives me nuts while watching the TV show.

The differences between the TV show and the books is intriguing and I think I enjoyed it a lot more as I was prepared somewhat for what to expect and made an effort to dispel all the notions and impressions I have of characters just reducing them to the facts that are unlikely to change, Sookie is a telepath, Sam is a shapeshifter and Jason is a man-whore.

I think I am going to thoroughly enjoy these books though it would be better if my damn snacks would arrive. £5 for delivery which takes a week is just ridiculous and I’m not happy.