“Skin” promises to get under ours with a winning look at the raging culture wars cloaked in a Romeo-and-Juliet love story.

The serial drama premieres Monday on Fox (at 8 p.m. on KDVR-Channel 31). Fox could have named it “Porn” and gotten extra publicity. But “Skin” is classier.

“Skin,” as in race. The hour explores interracial couples in a novel way.

“Skin,” as in skin flicks. It’s about the porn industry, with a complex portrayal of an “adult entertainment” mogul at its core.

“Skin” massages a range of issues, sexual to cross-cultural. The ambitious series does reveal a bit of flesh in the course of its tale of forbidden love and in scenes depicting porn-star photo shoots. Mostly it leaves more vivid imagery to viewers’ imaginations.

In brief: The daughter of a porn king, played by Ron Silver, is in love with the son of the Los Angeles district attorney, played by Kevin Anderson. Also, she’s Jewish and he’s half-Mexican, half-Irish Catholic. Her family is unimaginably rich, his is not.

The parents forbid the romance. The teens (Olivia Wilde and DJ Cotrona) are unaware of the battle between their fathers and are only motivated by love.

If the Fox audience is the same audience that reads newspapers (anything’s possible), then viewers will recognize the series as timely. The Supreme Court is going to take up the issue of porn again just as Fox launches its fictional battle. The high court last week agreed to revisit the quandary of how to protect children from online smut without resorting to censorship. Those who would root out Internet porn are again squaring off against proponents of free speech, and Fox’s drama could be the short-term winner.

Besides its catchy name and timeliness, the series boasts above-average writing in a drama that plays to both adults and teens with a legal-moral controversy on one level and a pretty star-crossed romance on the other.

A cinematically arresting underwater kiss during a Hollywood party introduces the two virgins in the pilot. From the fluid camera work to the well-crafted arguments both against pornography and in favor of free speech, “Skin” is a standout.

Beyond Shakespeare, producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Jim Leonard cite the 1995 film “Heat” and “Boogie Nights” as creative influences. Essentially they have created two warring dynasties with the lovers caught in the middle, a politicized “Romeo and Juliet” for the new century, complete with balcony scenes.

“Our goal is to take the soap out of soap opera,” Leonard said. “To make an operatic, hard-driving, character-driven show.”

Trust that enough suds remain to keep viewers hooked.

How far into the porn industry can prime time venture?

Co-executive producer Jonathan Littman says the story is “not about what a porn flick is, but how this business runs.”

These Hollywood types know better than to try to teach America about right and wrong.

“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,” Leonard said.

“At the same time,” he continued, “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.”

In the opening episodes, the writers assiduously avoid setting up heroes and villains, sketching instead in shades of gray. It soon becomes clear that the crusading DA has his own personal and family problems. He may be a hypocritical political opportunist.

The porn king, meanwhile, enjoys huge profits from what most consider an unsavory $10 billion-a-year industry. But he has a loving, healthy marriage and family. He despises the world of kiddie porn. And he is not hypocritical about the role of sex in adult lives. Now, with a daughter coming of age, he is seeing his responsibilities regarding sex in a new light.

The pornographer struggles for legitimacy, seeking acclaim as a philanthropist and putting his family name on a hospital wing. The DA is a liberal Democrat who fought for civil rights and against hate crimes, yet who now feels society has gone too far in terms of pornography. He frankly aims to decrease violence of all kinds by rooting out porn.

Clearly, the producers have arrived at a premise as rich as the industry they purport to examine.

Titillation is inevitable, given the subject matter. Balance will be crucial. If they go too far into soft-core turf, they alienate those in the audience more interested in the moral battles. If they spend too much time with the young lovers, they underserve the adult story lines. If they get too involved in legal-political arguments, they risk losing the teen audience.

“Skin” already is being compared to Fox’s “The O.C.” and “24.” Judging by the first two hours, it deserves to be in a league with those risky, buzz-worthy Fox serials.