Are You Watching This Mess?

PLEASE tell me I am not the only one.  I am addicted…  This is quite possibly the most ridiculous show on TV and I just. can’t. look. away. 

Thursdays are a big night for television with The Office and 30 Rock.  Luckily, there is no TiVo conflict with my new dirty addiction, Jersey Shore, which can be found on MTV at 10:00 p.m. EST on Thursdays.

Cast of the Jersey Shore

Here’s the Q+DD on the Jersey Shore:
MTV has focused its lens on various subcultures and rites of passage, uncovering a host of memorable characters in the process.  With its newest series, Jersey Shore, MTV peels back yet a different curtain to follow eight young adults as they move into a summer share to indulge in everything Seaside Heights, New Jersey, one of the most popular summer hot spots, has to offer.  Jersey Shore uncovers sometime surprising, often hilarious and usually over-the-top personalities as they juggle work, love, nightlife, friendship and the drama that ensues.  In the end, viewers see that there is more to these tan and buff individuals than gold chains and hair gel.  (www.mtv.com)

Okay, that description is nice and all – but here’s what I saw:  Eight Italian American “guidos” and “guidettes” (as they affectionately refer to themselves) living in a house together on the Shore for the summer.  In the first episode, everyone wears neon spandex, gets wasted, most of them get naked either at the club or in the hot tub afterwards and everyone almost immediately cheats on their significant others back home.  Lots of muscles, frosted tips, hair gel, plastic surgery, heavy Jersey accents and impressive fake tans.  They work part-time in a beach t-shirt shop by the Shore.  If that isn’t enough of a sales pitch, the very best part of the show are the male cast members:

Pauly, Mike "The Situation," Ronnie + Vinny

These guys kill me.  Pauly is covered in tattoos and uses about a bottle of hair gel to style his frosted tips before hitting the clubs.  Mike “The Situation,” as he calls himself, is the “playa” of the house and takes his workout routine at the gym very seriously.  Ronnie is all muscles and lifts his shirt up at the club while rubbing up/dancing with his “guidettes.”  Vinny gets pink eye in the first episode and decides not to fully disclose the truth about his condition to his housemates.  (I am sure I am not alone in saying that pink eye is the least of my worries as far as communicable diseases are concerned in this house. )  My favorite, though, is Mike “The Situation.”

Mike "The Situation"

He is cocky and pompous and absolutely ridiculous, but you have to love him.   “I don’t think they are going to be ready for The Situation.  Everyone’s gonna be like ‘Oh shoot, that’s The Situation right there.’” - Mike “The Situation” 

If you don’t already watch this show - I suggest you give it a shot.  I am not saying that you are going to like it, but it is definitely entertaining.  America is apparently really into fist pumping, as evidenced by the YouTube video sensation, “My New Haircut.”  And, MTV’s Jersey Shore is “all fist pumping all the time.”  Ronnie puts it very eloquently:

"I hear the music playing...I start fist pumping!" - Ronnie

xx, L