Does 'Jersey Shore' deserve a fist pump?

Eight strangers picked to live in a house... work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...

No, this isn't "Real World." These eight strangers are all self-professed "guidos and guidettes" and this is "Jersey Shore."

MTV is known for its less than exemplary reality shows, but "Jersey Shore" takes the cake. It is obnoxious, offensive and ridiculous. But to many, the show is an addiction that they cannot quit.

The set-up of "Jersey Shore" is nothing new. Lock strangers in a house and film them. We've seen it before. I've certainly seen the "let's get drunk and party" reality show at least five times, and each time I am semi-repulsed by the antics of people on those types of shows. So why has "Jersey Shore" become such a phenomenon, at least at Jamesville-DeWitt High School?

Over February break, I sat down and watched the first episode of "Jersey Shore,'" when MTV re-aired it one night. I can definitely see the appeal. It's pure escapism. For a few hours, you only have to care about whether Mike is being a jerk to Sammy by hanging out with some girls in the house's hot tub. As for all the alcohol available, "Jersey Shore" is definitely a good Public Service Announcement for what not to do around alcohol; i.e. get wasted, puke your brains, make out with two people in one night, or make out with another guy in front of cameras even though you have a boyfriend at home (cough cough Angelina cough cough).

Most people interviewed either loved the show or didn't watch it. Senior Jennifer Legaspi said, "I don't watch it, because I hear they have sex and I don't want to see that." For junior Jessie Torrance, the fun of the show comes out of "making fun of people on the show, because it's so ridiculous." Agreeing with Torrance is J-DHS senior Nina Hylen, who finds the show, "hilarious, because it's so over the top." J-DHS senior Angela Wesley says the show is "awesome, because it's so non-realistic." "The drama is entertaining," says J-DHS senior Kyrsten Schreiber. Uber-fan junior Whitney Tracy also watches for the drama as well. She says, "It makes my life feel less chaotic."

Part of the excitement of "Jersey Shore" is that the people on the show are real people, who represent a real part of life that happens every summer at Seaside Heights. At least according to MTV, and as Torrance says, "MTV is never real." But Rob Sheffield points out in this article in Rolling Stone (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31735478/americas_inner_guido) that people are tired of the cattiness of "The Hills" and "The City," two shows that the American public has previously embraced. The girls on "Jersey Shore" really care for each other. JWOWW punches out a girl in a club for calling Snooki fat, and then saves Snooki's feelings by not singling her out and instead says the girl called everyone in the house fat. And these two have only known each other for two weeks.
That's loyalty, and Seaside Heights is an American fantasyland, according to Sheffield, where the guys are super-ripped and the girls have no inhibitions. Tracy says "It's summer reality." I'm not going to lie; I wish I could hang out with guys who have bodies that good. Yummy.

And of course everyone has his or her favorite. Torrance and Wesley both love Vinny, the mama's boy of the house. Torrance also has a big crush on Mike "The Situation." But the most loved character appears to be the diminutive Snooki, as Wesley, Schreiber, Tracy, and Torrance all cite her as their favorite person. When asked why, Tracy says, "She's 4'9", and so tiny and feisty."

But with every big hit, there's always someone trying to knock that hit down. Dominos pulled their ad spots out of the Jersey Shore section of MTV because they were offended by the casual use of the word, "guido," which they found offensive. UNICO, the national Italian-American service organization, is also objecting to the word "guido," saying it is derogatory and negative towards Italians. Sophomore Chip Weber says, "I don't watch it because I'm not a tool." But most in our school aren't really taking offense. Hylen, an Italian-American herself, is not offended in the slightest. She says, "It's just a certain group of people. (MTV) clearly picked a certain group." Torrance says that the word "guidos is probably offensive, but there's no other way to describe that type of person. The show just shows how some people are; they're just guidos." Senior Jake Bratek agrees, saying, "I love guidos."

"Jersey Shore" is just another example of Americans embracing something completely unexpected. Just look at Snuggies, the sparkly vampires of Twilight, and Pirates of the Caribbean for other examples of runaway hits. One thing is for sure: "Jersey Shore" is here to stay.

*FIST-PUMP!*