not necessarily that.

more along the lines of the mere fact that THAT is entertaining to a huge demographic of human beings, rather than being absolutely ridiculous and shameful.

in a decent world in which we use our brains a little more, a show like that is canceled after a season, rather than praised and, arguably, continued for the next 10 years.

1/7/2010 11:52:37 PM

There are 2 kinds of shows that I watch:

1. shows that I really enjoy and get engaged in (i.e. Fringe)

2. shows that I watch to laugh AT because they're so ridiculous (i.e. Jersey Shore)

1/7/2010 11:55:11 PM

yea i think everyone laughs at it because it is ridic not because it is an amazing show

1/7/2010 11:56:01 PM

what channel are YOU on, LindaRRRR?

i'd watch that

1/7/2010 11:56:15 PM

ESPN 8

1/7/2010 11:59:24 PM

I suppose it's just a difference in what people find entertaining. I get what you're saying, but given my disposition, I suppose, I try to make some zealous stance AGAINST remotely enjoying willful stupidity. Not that I don't laugh at classless jokes from time to time, but just flat out endorsing the whole slew of efforts at televising every fringe of "humanity", and ultimately procuring several of its "stars" as, essentially, the elites of an already floundering society just really kills me. It reflects a lot about where we are as a collective society, I think. We love degradation, cynicism, underachieving.

We need heroes, folks. A goddamned hero.

1/7/2010 11:59:42 PM

The cast of Jersey Shore are perfect examples for society...

...of what NOT to do.

1/8/2010 12:00:29 AM

point is, you put any kind of person on TV, someone somewhere sees their behavior as an endorsement that the behavior is OK. Sure, most people look at it, and think, "wow. this is what you call subhuman." However, for every show that touts these people as "regular, every day people," that's several viewers who deem it perfectly fine to be that way, and not try to transcend said behavior.

1/8/2010 12:02:52 AM

Quote :

"As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species."

Idiocracy

1/8/2010 12:03:08 AM

Common Sense

I suppose LETTING it happen is what we're destined to do.

does no one else see it as woefully sad that this is where we're headed? like, really? I'm not even what I'd call an alarmist. just a misanthropist, a realist.

I mean, no bullshit, there are times when I hear about some slag with no job, an equally useless husband or boyfriend, who is expecting her 7th child at 28, and it literally makes me want to find them and slit their throats. If humans are truly the pinnacle of evolution, that is fucking SAD. If humans were made in God's image, and this is where we are, God is a foul slop of a deity.



[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 12:08 AM. Reason : asdfasddd]

1/8/2010 12:04:20 AM

Quote :

"However, for every show that touts these people as "regular, every day people," that's several viewers who deem it perfectly fine to be that way, and not try to transcend said behavior."

Except that the people who view it this way were most likely fucked up and thought this way before they ever even heard of the show.

1/8/2010 12:08:18 AM

that's not my point, but you're right.

the very fact that these people were like that before the show was conceived speaks



VOLUMES.

there have been shows like this for several years now. this is just the new reference. the lowered bar, if you will.

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 12:10 AM. Reason : afsdfasd]

1/8/2010 12:09:29 AM

Quote :

"on the next episode it looks like jwow goes cray cray. she didn't do much on tonight's episode"

hahahahah yes! i was like, where is jwoww?

mike's sister looked EXACTLY like mike in the face.

and what about ronnie getting into that fight and sam getting upset at him when she's the one who was starting shit in the first place by talking shit to that guy's girlfriend. and then sam gets upset and blames ronnie. d-rama.

Quote :

"ESPN 8"

the ocho.

1/8/2010 8:07:35 AM

WHO WANTS TO GO?!

1/8/2010 3:31:25 PM

hahahaha palm beach tan

1/8/2010 3:33:28 PM

^^ ME!!!!!!

1/8/2010 3:42:17 PM

tickets are only $10

I am seriously going to this

1/8/2010 3:53:16 PM

it was house music

1/8/2010 3:54:15 PM

1/8/2010 3:57:20 PM

PAULY D ON THE 1's AND 2's

1/8/2010 3:57:41 PM

http://www.cracked.com/blog/jersey-shore-is-the-worst-thing-to-happen-to-the-east-coast-since-911

Ignore the title. It's actually not really very hostile to the show at all, and mostly just explains the characters. And manages to be funny at points.

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 4:12 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2010 4:11:13 PM

Sammi “Sweetheart”

Sammi’s probably the most controversial person on the show. In the first week alone, it seemed like Sweetheart and the Situation were sweethearts, and a romantic situation seemed to be developing, but then Sweetheart decided to complicate Situation’s situation by starting a new situation with Ronnie, Sweetheart’s allegedly preferred sweetheart. When the Situation found out, the situation started to spin out of control, when The Situation started spinning out of control. The Situation stormed off, presumably, to take his mind off the situation by watching CNN’s The Situation Room alone in The Situation’s room. Meanwhile, Ronnie, Sweetheart’s sweetheart, and Sweetheart sat in the kitchen eating (in a perfect world) sweet tarts. [It's pretty simple, really, in a buffalo sort of way.]

1/8/2010 4:22:13 PM

I typically agree with WillemJoel, and I like him a great deal.

But I’m afraid he has gone too far here. You don’t put words like people and humanity in quotes. And you definitely don’t describe people as subhuman.

He’s exceptionally intelligent and insightful, but he’s not coherent or rational here. At first he warns that “’people’ of their ilk are already the majority, and that majority is going to continue to explode.” But then he describes them as the “fringe of ‘humanity.’”

This show is no different than all the other garbage that’s been passed off as entertainment over the past decade. If it’s indicative of anything, it’s the basics of capitalism, not some degradation of humanity. Reality TV is so cheap to make that it automatically yields easy profits. It kind of reminds me of dime novels back in the day.

The idea that the world is getting dumber, and we're all doomed has been trotted out repeatedly for hundreds of years. To suggest that the fools of Jersey Shore represent some significant development in that timeless premise gives them way too much credit.

1/8/2010 4:41:23 PM

Quote :

"it was house music"

1/8/2010 4:43:30 PM

The biggest problem I have with the show is that they've left out the key piece of this particular reality: alcohol. MTV is essentially giving their "stars" a free pass to drink it up, but because they presumably don't want to glamorize alcohol for the younger folks, they cut out a lot of the shots of drinking. So what would be the perfect indictment of alcohol abuse becomes a disconnected account of the bizarre happenings in the lives of binge drinkers.

I mean, did anybody else notice that the girl who was arrested at the close of last night's show for being extremely drunk in public was the same girl that Mike invited over for sex? What would the incorrigibly narcissistic predator, "The Situation," have done with that girl had she not come with her two "grenade" friends?

Predatorial sex, alcoholism and binge drinking, violence, etc...MTV had an opportunity to document these topics in a serious way, and they dropped the ball in favor of maintaining the popularity/consumability of their runaway hit.

1/8/2010 5:28:39 PM

jesus christ, not every show on MTV has to have a fucking educational aspect. they're already doing society a favor by entertaining us with idiots. as a matter of fact, alcohol overindulgence greatly improves the entertainment.

1/8/2010 5:30:18 PM

In all fairness to sexual predator "The Situation" you have to put some of the blame on the girl who was also clearly out for casual sex.

PS - this show is utter trash. I only have a loose grasp on what is going on here because of Bill Simmons's articles on ESPN.com

1/8/2010 5:32:21 PM

Quote :

"MTV had an opportunity to document these topics in a serious way"

boooorrrrrriiiinnnng

1/8/2010 5:33:20 PM

the situation was totally just on leno

well he was like skyped onto it but i came across it flipping channels

1/11/2010 10:50:55 PM

he was on the Tonight Show a couple of weeks ago. he gave Conan the nickname "The Solution"

1/11/2010 10:57:02 PM

I hope this style of show replaces "Real World". Instead of seeing 8 douchbags from different stereotypical subcultures cohabitating, it's so much more entertaining to see 8 douchbags from the same stereotypical subculture try to out-douchebag each other.

[Edited on January 11, 2010 at 11:01 PM. Reason : no one wins the guid-off ]

1/11/2010 11:00:28 PM

I love that guys smile right before he hits her. He looks fucking crazy

1/11/2010 11:16:39 PM

i don't condone guys hitting girls


but he daffy ducked that bitch

1/11/2010 11:17:45 PM

^ funny

1/11/2010 11:28:32 PM

from that cracked article:

Quote :

"Snooki is a cross between a goblin and another goblin. She is about three and a half feet of puffy-cheeked goblin. Her first night in the house, she stripped down to her underwear, hopped into the jacuzzi and played “Pass the Goblin” with every guy in the house. Since then, she’s moped around by herself, shrieking like a goblin that no one “gets her” and if they really got to know her, they’d realize she wasn’t a miserable, shrieking goblin. She complains to her dad on the phone, saying that everyone in the house thinks she’s the kind of girl who gets drunk and decides to become the cracker in a bowl of dude soup. (You can see how they’d get that impression.) She’s unhappy because she’s used to being liked, which doesn’t sound at all possible in any realm, Middle Earth or otherwise."

1/12/2010 2:23:11 AM

I would like to watch at least one episode of this show.

1/12/2010 3:30:25 AM

That guy that hit Snooki is a Middle School math teacher in NY. I wonder if sucker punching is a job requirement?

1/12/2010 9:42:24 AM

Kids Reenact MTV’s Hit Series "Jersey Shore"

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/79zjOn/www.babelgum.com/4022027/kids-reenact-mtvs-hit-series-jersey-shore.html

1/15/2010 11:36:49 AM

ya'll realize there's a whole thread with discussion and stuff in Entertainment right?

message_topic.aspx?topic=582591

1/15/2010 11:37:35 AM

yes.

1/15/2010 12:05:29 PM