They're back......

In case you hadn't heard, Jersey Shore is back for its fifth roller coaster season.  That's right, those guidos and guidettes you love to hate are back in the U.S. and still up to no good in Seaside Heights. 

I love me some good bad TV, and Jersey Shore is just one of those things that once you start, you just can't stop, even if you want to.  At this point the show is cruising along like a speeding train that doesn't realize the tracks are out up ahead.  Which means before too long the whole thing is just going to crash, and it's not going to be pretty. 

Not that things have been very good looking up to this point. 

For awhile all the clubbing, roommate drama, hook ups, and crazy pranks were kind of funny.  But after a few seasons of Ron and Sam screaming at each other, Snooki's drinking getting crazy out of control, and Mike continuing to act like the worlds biggest trash bag ever, it's all starting to get a bit old....and a bit sad.

Some of these case members are pushing 30 years old, which to my 27 year old mind translates to "maybe you're too old to be acting like you're on your 21 run every single time you go out partying."  Or, maybe I'm just a buzz-kill.

I have a theory that people (and by people I mean me) watch shows like Jersey Shore to make themselves feel better about their own lives.  Especially when the show passes that "fun" point and simply becomes a viewing area of total self destruction.  It sounds sick but I think there's some kind of reaffirming quality to watching shows where, to our perception, the people appear to be completely dysfunctional.  Ugh, yes, that does sound completely awful.      

Jersey Shore is just one more prime example of popular culture making celebrities (rich ones, no less) out of people who have not an ounce of talent and who have become famous for pretty much no reason at all.  But it's kind of a fascinating phenomenon, isn't it?  Within the span of a couple years phrases like GTL, grenade whistle, and t-shirt time have become commonplace and easily recognized by people everywhere.  Which means that this "reality" show has literally taken on a life of its own.  I suppose if I really want to complain about people like the Jersey Shore cast being famous I have no one to blame but myself, because like millions of other Americans I tuned in last night to see the beginning of what I pray will be the last season of this show. 

But as I mentioned above we all need a little bad TV in our lives.  And it looks like for the foreseeable future Jersey Shore will continue to be mine.