The Real Appeal Of Jersey Shore

Oh please, no. Please let it be some kind of early April fool’s joke! Someone tell me it’s a lie that there’s going to be a spinoff of Jersey Shore:

The producers do not yet have a deal to make the show, but, so far, they have received hundreds of audition videos. “Yesterday someone posted a twenty-two-minute-long tape,” Dizik said. “He was showing off his Russian motorcycle, and his mom kept interrupting. He went downstairs to show us his dad, and his dad’s like, ‘Get the fuck out of here.’ Then he drove to his grandparents’ house, and they tried to sneak candy into his pockets.”

Vodka and weight lifting will remain important themes in “Brighton Beach,” but, according to the producers, the show will differ from “Jersey Shore” in significant ways.

Sadly, this is probably true. The New Yorker (which the excerpt is from) never misleads and very very publishes anything close to false information. In which case all I can do is wonder why people like these kinds of shows. When Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker‘s t.v. critic, reviewed Jersey Shore she hypothesized that people watch it because it makes them feel better about themselves, flaws and all. I’ve never been able to get through a whole episode (and I’ve tried) but that sounds right. Still, I wonder if there’s something more since the appeal seems to be based on how outrageous and undesirable the show’s stars are…

–Daniel Strauss