some words about you kids and my lawn

(Actually, no, it's about the adults behind the shows aimed at kids.)

What's less surprising about the MTV Skins controversy is that anyone expects anything but the worst bottom-feeding instincts from the same network that has brought...well, basically scan the entire TV Schedule on any given day and find the most offensive item that fits your spectrum of outrage. Even without manufactured controversy, it's all blandly awful.

But expected. As David Carr notes,

objectifying teenage pathology, along with teenage bodies, is a complicated business — and the business that MTV is in.

So why are we outraged that flesh peddlers are fulfilling their job description?

PS: Dear Knicker-Twisting Parent Groups -- Please don't call works of entertainment 'dangerous', especially works that I would otherwise like to criticize. It puts me in the unenviable position of having to defend crap, or take your side on something.