The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

A Shore-fire Success

The most talked about reality TV show since The Real World is MTV’s newest addiction: Jersey Shore.

Based on the lives of eight people picked to live in a shore house off the coast of New Jersey, the show follows the housemates while they live, work and party at the Jersey Shore.

 

The summer at the Jersey Shore kicked off with the eight roommates, Angelina “Jolie” Pivarnick, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Vinny Guadagnino moving into their summer shore house. Romance immediately heats up between Sammi and Mike, but hours later, Mike decides to invite three random girls to the hot tub, causing Sammi to question Mike’s motives. Meanwhile, Snooki comes on too strong around the housemates and finds herself the outcast.

Throughout the course of the season, Jersey Shore offers all the components of an entertaining reality show: a love triangle, an arrest, fights, and a house member deciding she is too good for the place and leaves.

The show appeals to adolescents and young adults by tapping into experiences they can relate to, such as love, conflict and friendships, while providing the type of drama viewers can feed off of and find unintentionally hilarious.

Although the fights and arguments the housemates get involved in are entertaining, the best part is the personality each character brings to the show. Many reality TV shows have lost the “reality” aspect by turning into largely scripted soap operas, like The Hills or The City, where the actions and dialogue that goes on among cast members are predictable.

Once Jersey Shore aired, the show received criticism regarding the term “guido” and “guidette” and its portrayal of Americans of Italian heritage. The scrutiny came from locals in New Jersey because the cast members were not residents from the area.

Other viewers did not seem to show much concern. The controversy increased the show’s popularity, causing it to be the subject of many spoofs on other shows including Saturday Night Live and random YouTube.com videos. Viewers have identified with the characters so much that the nicknames “Snooki” and “The Situation” are becoming

household names.

Overall, Jersey Shore is a refreshing take on reality TV that explores the lives of eight strangers (all claiming to be guidos and guidettes) and how they spend one crazy summer. Viewers cannot help but be glued to their television sets every Thursday night.

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