Call me pathetic because I’m in love with a show about rich high schoolers but I don’t care, I love it anyway. Today I’m even wearing the same silk tunic that Serena wore in last week’s premiere when she was on the beach. (The costume department loses a point though because I’ve had this baby since last winter.)  Now, onto the dirt.

1. The show is about a bunch of teenagers who live in Bristol, England, so they use all sorts of awesome slang, i.e., “spliff” means marijuana.
2. Skins has its own Twitter, and if you follow it, you’ll learn a new British word every day.
3. Each episode focuses on one character’s perspective, so you see Cassie battling an eating disorder, Jal dealing with a famous father, and Tony trying to pick up private school girls by joining a choir—stuff that wouldn’t really get touched on if the show just focused on the group as a whole. And the characters are so different you’ll fall in love with at least one of them (we heart Cassie).
4. BBC America airs episodes Sundays at 9 and 10 p.m. but replays them Mondays at 12, 1, 3, and 4 a.m., so if you’re an insomniac, you’ll have something to watch besides infomercials at least one day a week.
5. The actors actually look like they’re 17 years old and in high school, unlike Naomi on the new 90210, who looks about 30.

Keep reading to watch the series’ trailer and clips from this weeks episodes, which tell the stories of Chris and Sid.

While sex used to be saved for cable television shows, networks have been trying to compete by showing some skin themselves. Hits like Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives have been steaming the storylines, and the ratings, up. Over the past few years the change has been so noticeable, consumer watchdogs, the Parents Television Council, decided to launch a “Happily Never After” study to test how much of the sex being shown was in the context of a wholesome marriage. Needless to say, the numbers reflected what married friends keep telling their single gal pals—sex is way more interesting when you’re unattached.  According to the research, which examined four weeks worth of network prime time programming last fall, there was three times as much dirty talk and four times as many eyefuls of un-wedded sexual bliss than there were married couples getting it on. And the sex itself isn’t exactly vanilla either! Voyeurism, masturbation, threesomes, fetishes, S&M, transsexuals and sex toys have been making television shows spicier. But is it too hot to handle? Not even the critics think so. Airing the kinks we’ve all come to know and love is just a sign of the times—it’s art imitating life. [Forbes]

It’s not uncommon for aspiring actors to audition for reality TV shows, hoping a spot on Big Brother or The Real World will get them noticed by a casting director and catapult their career into, well, reality. But now there are people who don’t really aspire to be actors who play roles, they just want to be cast as themselves because they want to be famous, if only for one season of I Love New York. As one such person said, “I see that [reality TV] would fulfill the reason why I want to get into acting in the first place. I have that desire to express myself, to get what’s inside outside and there’s no more raw, real way than reality television.” A few enterprising people have opened schools or started offering classes in cities such as New York and London, teaching people how to be on a reality TV show. Robert Galinsky, an acting coach, performer, and producer, opened the New York Reality Television School after helping someone prepare for Animal Planet’s The Groomer Has It. He shares “eight commandment of reality television,” which include “show confidence not cockiness,” “say ‘yes’ as often as possible” (the reason for all of the hookups on The Real World?), and “never say ‘I am an actor.’” During the class, five TV cameras film the students’ every move to prepare them for the intensity of starring on a show.

Maybe one day, reality TV will become a major at colleges and become such a popular career path that everyone will be on a TV show, and shows will consist of people sitting on the couch watching other reality TV shows. Let’s pray this doesn’t happen though, because even watching Justin Bobby burp on The Hills was more exciting.
[Reuters]

When did Sesame Street get to be so cool? This video of Feist singing a variation on her song “1 2 3 4” will air in the season 39 premiere on August 11. Also making appearances on Sesame Street episodes this season: Will Arnett, Jessica Alba, David Beckham, Heidi Klum, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jack Black. Would it be strange for a 25-year old to DVR Sesame Street? [Videogum]

The N Network has a new show, Queen Bees, premiering tonight at 9 p.m., and I’m not ashamed to admit that my Friday night is looking up. The show is not about nature, but does feature queen bees, or biyatches, in their natural, swanky habitat. Host Yoanna House (America’s Next Top Model, Cycle Two) will try to change these self-described mean girls, who were nominated by family and friends, into nice girls by giving them soul-bettering tasks, and whoever shows the most growth wins $25,000.

If I were Lauren, I’d be a little pissed. Heidi gets to be the answer question on Jeopardy? Also, can you hear Alex Trebek saying “duh”? [Fashionista]

The Brits might love their TV even more than we do, or maybe fewer of them have DV-R. A new poll revealed that a fifth of those surveyed regularly shun family, friends, and partners so they won’t miss their favorite TV shows. Some planned vacations around TV schedules, and 17 percent of women between 16 to 24 said they will either speed up or skip sex so they can watch TV.  “Loyal fans let little stand in the way of seeing their favorite show,” said The Sun Tiscali TV director Simon Hunt. Yeah, heaven forbid life get in the way of TV. [Sify]

I have a new favorite show, well, for now. Secret Diary Of A Call Girl debuted last night and I love it. A British import based on the blog by call girl Belle Du Jour. Billie Piper plays Belle (real name: Hannah), a call girl who loves sex, loves money, and loves having sex for money. Does the show glamorize prostitution? At first glance, i.e. the first episode, sure. But Belle is a high-class call girl—as she reminds us in the clip above—and isn’t exactly trolling the streets having sex to feed her drug habit. I’ve read that the show will start to reveal that Belle has a hard time keeping her professional life and her personal life as Hannah separate, but in the meantime, I found the show hilarious, sexy (oh goodness, there is much nakedness), and smart—and Billie Piper has some serious acting chops. Check out the clip above and if you like what you see, head on over to Showtime and watch the first two episodes for free. [Showtime: Secret Diary Of A Call Girl]

How often do you see a commercial for laundry detergent that depicts a father dealing with his son or daughter’s grass-stained clothes? By my calculations, you never do. And this isn’t helping get guys to do laundry or other household chores that are traditionally considered “women’s work.” Men are particularly influenced by the way TV commercials portray them, and 34 percent of them presented them engaged in work behavior, while just 2 percent showed them performing domestic tasks. Women, on the other hand, are least likely to be portrayed working outside the home—only 13.1 percent showed them this way, and 51.5 percent of commercials featuring women focused on selling home products, such as food and cleaners. It’s true that company’s do this for a reason. Women are still the ones buying most of these products. I’m hoping that as people get married later in life, men will start getting used to buying 409 and Clorox wipes and keep doing it when they get married. But then again, I’ve seen my guy friends’ apartments. They may own cleaning products, but they have yet to put them to use. [Newswise]

She has a long list of celebrity clients, a book out, a bitter diva battle with Vogue’s Anna Wintour, and now fashionista Rachel Zoe is about to take on television. The lean, mean stylin’ machine has been criticized for promoting tanorexia [Not to mention anorexia.—Editor], but now Bravo is going to let you judge her yourself with a serial docu-drama that will watch her every move. “The Rachel Zoe Project” is currently in development at the network and the other characters will include her hubby, Rodger, her two assistants, Taylor and Brad, and some of her celeb clientele. [NBC]

A Venezuelan TV Channel is pulling The Simpsons off the air after being barraged with complaints that the show is not appropriate for children. Jeez. Don’t have a cow, man! According to the station manager, “The Simpsons worked very well — so much so that it had the highest levels of viewership for that morning timetable in the history of the channel.” However, despite its popularity, their viewers’ morality grievances have made the station cut the show’s successful run short.  So, what’s airing in the 11am time slot instead? Baywatch: Hawaii.  Doh! [MSNBC]

Say hello to Hulu, a new website which archives movies and television, proving the best things in life are free. From Working Girl to The Girls Next Door, you can watch old and new classics over this fancy thingamajig called the Internet. Hulu is like the YouTube of quality programming with clean-as-a-whistle copies of episodes from hot shows like Lipstick Jungle and Chelsea Lately to vintage picks like The Facts of Life.  No more hunting through foggy, pirated footage, now you can finally find hilarious clips from shows like In Living Color—like this hilarious clip about the PMS Defense System. [Hulu via Battellemedia]