THE PLOT THUS FAR
A reality-based look at the vapid lives of several New Jersey 20-somethings and their respective friends and/or hook-ups.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Jersey Shore, a recent addition to MTV’s fine family of reality shows, resembles the network’s pioneering series “The Real World,” which is now almost twenty years old—a human chemistry experiment with explosions guaranteed. In both shows, a group of carefully, cannily chosen people with big personalities—or personality disorders—are thrown together to live for a period of time with few obligations and all kinds of ways to create a lifetime of regrets, not least for viewers. The logo of these shows might be one of those large red plastic cups used for beer at frat parties, and in evidence in many teen-agers’ Facebook photos, signalling the overflow of alcohol and expectations that happens at large gatherings and the nausea that often results the next day, triggered partly by the fact that someone caught it all on camera.
The third season marks a low-point for the show, as it seems like an after effect due to the gang blowing up all over the place. Ronnie was charged with aggravated assault stemming from an incident in which he knocked out a guy who had confronted him at a nightclub. And poor little “Snooki” was recently charged with annoying people on the beach while heavily intoxicated; and she also got her lights punched out by some guy at a bar during the first season…poor “Snooki” – she’s got a big mouth, all right, but no one deserves to get hit like she did by a big drunken coward like she did. That being said, these incidents overshadow the show and leave me stumped. I can not name one episode of this year in great detail.
The DVD comes with featurettes, bonus retrospectives and extra scenes of America dumbing down. The stuff at the photo shoot is so obviously staged, but it’s staged with people who know nothing about acting. So, it’s like you have a bunch of kids trying to play up an image for the cameras. The kicker is that no one is on the same page. The A/V Quality is pretty strong for standard definition, but I’m left wondering why we didn’t get a Blu-Ray. Oh well, it’s worth a purchase for fans. RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
