Jersey Shore

What a thing!

Having plunked down the thousand bucks for a 42 inch Vizio internet television, I had no intention of sending another load of cash every month to Time-Warner Cable, a company that is, at best, a thieving pig hole.

Between Netflix (comes right into the television for 9 bucks a month), Hulu Plus (comes right into the television for 8 bucks a month), Internet Service (45 bucks a month), and then all the free online stuff on the computer HDMI-cabled to the television, free local Networks (bundled into our internet automatically, but they don’t tell you that, but it’s there, you just need a splitter), our total monthly cost is 62 dollars. It’s hodgepodge. We are medium adapters. Of course, you can buy all sorts of one-time deals from I-Tunes (through the computer) and Vudu (right in the television).

So it is easy now to poke around and look for new things. And what did I decide to watch for the first time? Just to get a grip on the anthropological-entertainment phenom that is part of reality television? Jersey Shore.

Can this really be happening? Can that really be a show? I have never watched anything like it. I know. I’m behind. I’m slow to know. I first found out about Rufus Wainwright years ago by reading Newsweek.

But Jersey Shore?---the stuff is so scripted. The actors on the show are clearly acting. The whole thing looks like just one big union-buster to me. It’s absolute garbage? No? Why on earth would anyone watch this? Is it time for me to die? Is that it? Is my time on earth simply over?

I felt like I was witnessing some sort of post-apocalyptic version of humanity-entertainment. Like the nightmare portion of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Friends, I know it’s not all about me. I get it. I mean, I am not the standard bearer. Fine. But can anyone on earth explain to me who watches this and why? Catch me up. Speak real loud into my hearing aid.