If Romeo's father had been the district attorney and Juliet's father had been a pornographer, the result would have been the new Fox series "Skin" (8 p.m., Ch. 13).

"Certainly 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Heat,' 'Boogie Nights' — these were kind of the primary things I thought about as I was beginning the show," said creator/executive producer Jim Leonard. "Our goal is to take the soap out of soap opera. To make an operatic, hard-driving, character-driven show."

Yeah, well, there's still plenty of soap in this opera. It is, in many ways, a successor to "Dallas" and "Dynasty," only instead of the oil business this one revolves around the porn business.

Larry Goldman (Ron Silver) is the hugely successful head of a hugely successful "adult-entertainment" corporation worth billions. He's pornographer by day, philanthropist by night. And he's got a good relationship with his wife, Barbara (Pamela Gidley), teenage daughter, Jewel (Olivia Wilde), and younger son.

Thomas Roam (Kevin Anderson) is a hard-driven, politically motivated district attorney who's out to get Goldman. His relationships with his Latina wife, Laura (Rachel Ticotin) — who's a judge — and teenage son, Adam (D.J. Cotrona) are less than great.

And neither father is happy when Jewel and Adam fall for each other.

"Skin" is nowhere near as lascivious as the title and premise might lead you to believe. Oh, this is certainly not Sunday School material, but it's not any more out there than your run-of-the-mill network fare.

Leonard and his team have succeeded in creating some strong characters and setting up an intriguing premise. Much to their credit, these guys don't wear either black hats or white hats; they're more complicated than that.

There's at least an attempt to frame the teen soap-opera elements in terms of larger issues.

"I don't think that the teens are what's driving the drama, I think that the teens are what's at stake in the drama. And I think that the drama is very much about the culture wars — about right and left, about right and wrong, about where the lines are," Leonard said. "I'm the father of two teenage kids, and I'm deeply conflicted, deeply concerned about where our society is in terms of sexualizing everything. And, at the same time, I'm a writer and I am utterly opposed to censorship. So I don't have the answers, otherwise this show wouldn't be interesting to write."

But if he's worried about sexualizing everything, how can he justify having his two teen characters lose their virginity in Episode 1?

"I think there are serious character repercussions for what they go through, and I think it's interesting to explore exactly that," Leonard said. "And I think they will be conflicted about what they've gone through and have to deal with it."

As did Romeo and Juliet. Just don't expect a quick and tragic end for Adam and Jewel.

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