Jersey Shore is MTV's latest reality show, grouping 4 male and 4 female 20-something Italians together in a "shore house" to see what develops. That's pretty much like throwing 8 sticks of dynamite into a rock tumbler, just to see what might happen. This is a strange group of people and what goes on in the shore house is even stranger still.
They all consider themselves Guidos and Guidettes, which is apparently the accepted way to describe muscled, tanned Italian folks out on the prowl, "creeping" for dates. First, there's Mike AKA "The Situation," a guy whose 6-pack of abs could only be outdone by his egotistical attitude. Mike is quite the ladies' man and spends his month at the Jersey Shore trying to hook up with as many girls as he possibly can. He starts to "vibe" with Sammi "Sweetheart," one of the 4 girls in the house, but when she turns her attention to Ronnie, the beefy stud with the funny laugh, "The Situation" gets jealous. There's Pauly D, a DJ from Rhode Island, whose rock hard hair seems to need its own zipcode. He's a bit of a ladies' man as well, but spends plenty of time being Mike's wingman and has to deal with some crazy chicks as a result. Vinny is the last guy in the group and he seems more like the quiet type, until he gets drunk and starts fist-pumping, which is apparently a thing on the East Coast.
Angelina is the self-proclaimed c***-blocker of the group and every time Mike starts getting hot and heavy with some chicks in the hot tub, Angelina comes to kill the buzz. Well, that is, until she doesn't show up for work on her first day and gets canned. This is a problem because the owner of the shore house is the boss and the trade-off for the kids staying in the house is that they work in the t-shirt shop. So Angelina is out only a couple of episodes into the show and honestly, it's a welcome improvement.
Jenni/"Jwoww" is a very self-assured and rude chick from New York who loves attracting lots of attention and she gravitates towards Pauly D, in spite of the fact that she has a boyfriend back home who lavishes her with expensive gifts. Finally, Nicole/"Snooki" is a pint-sized atom bomb and is the self-titled Princess of Poughkeepsie. She can't seem to find a guy to "hook up with" and is always whining and miserable. Her mouth gets her into trouble on more than one occasion and I can't help that I was sort of intrigued when she got punched in the face at a bar. By a dude. Then she gets punched by a girl one week later in the same spot on her face. Ok, so that's epic. Maybe she shouldn't go around calling the Jersey local girls hippos. Ya think?
Jersey Shore: Season One is completely uncensored and to this group, the F-bomb is so commonly used it may as well be "the" or "and." Expect to hear copious amounts of cursing and in very creative ways. You'll also see all sorts of craziness like hot tub grinding sessions, rolling around under the covers and dancing that is probably illegal in many states. There are a few beatdowns (not all of them involving Snooki), some jail time and lots of scenes at the same 3 or 4 cheesy clubs with all the fist-pumping to house music you could ever want. There's a nice handful of special features here, in addition to the 9 episodes and they include things like a 45 minute MTV special on the Jersey Shore Reunion, about 25 minutes of deleted scenes, dating tips from The Situation and Snooki, plus a really funny but short Jersey makeover on Michael Cera. There is also commentary on every episode by various cast members.
This was my first exposure to the actual show, but I had heard the hype. If you want to see what all the fuss is about and get ready for the next season, you'll want to check out Jersey Shore: Season One. This is not for kids, so parents, unless you want your kids cursing like sailors and focusing their entire lives on "Gym, Tanning and Laundry," don't let your kids watch this show. For the rest of you, if you want to watch in awe of the "Jur-zee" lifestyle, this is definitely an experience.
