Interview: Chloë Sevigny

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Television

Review: MTV's ''Skins''

It's interesting to watch MTV try to rebrand itself as a network known for original programming when all it's been good for in the past few years is creating tabloid fixtures out of anyone willing to fist-pump at a bar or have the strange triumphs of her pregnancy detailed at 16. In airing Skins, it's trying to tell us, "We can still be snarky, genuine, and sexy in a way that isn't utterly contrived. We can reach young people without putting their prettier contemporaries in a mansion outfitted with cameras, condoms, and Cuervo tequila. We can showcase elegant writing. We can break hearts." And it does, up to a point. Which might be more than enough for those who've had little or no exposure to the original. But those who have experienced the original will find MTV's do-over tepid in comparison with what could have been, what already was.