Assorted links and stuff for those who despise "Jersey Shore"

[alp227]

Lately I've been bombarded with Jersey Shore even though I don't have cable television.

On last night's Jay Leno Show, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino was the guest for the "10 @ 10" interview segment. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, another JS cast member, was too. I was watching Leno last night because Bill Cosby was on and had some rappers performing from his new hip hop album Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency. The Situation's interview was sorta humorous, but I don't have a very good judgment of his character based on that interview.

And then in her Washington Times (yea I know about that newspaper's evil connections and I personally despise Sun Myung Moon's dumb theology) column, Marybeth Hicks (who I've posted about before) urged parents not to let their children watch garbage like Jersey Shore:

...it's Snooki's advocacy of tanning that drew me into the "Jersey Shore" controversy. Appearing on "The Jay Leno Show," Snooki said her goal in life was to "change the world by installing a tanning bed into everybody's homes." Perhaps Snooki hasn't heard that tanning beds are known to cause cancer.

Us Weekly's online edition asked the Parents Television Council (PTC) for a response to Snooki's inane comment. As a member of PTC's advisory board, I offered the observation that "Jersey Shore" is just one more example of MTV's exploitation of young adults in an effort to chase ratings, while at the same time promoting dangerous, destructive, immoral and unhealthy behaviors like binge drinking, illegal drug use, promiscuous sex, foul language and now, it appears, excessive tanning.

The headlines read "Snooki blasted by TV watchdog group" but they should have read "MTV continues assault on America's youths."

Of course, MTV is not alone. As PTC thoroughly documents, the public airwaves are fraught with content that corrupts the hearts and souls of our youngest generation, most of which is easily accessible despite Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules that supposedly regulate the "family hour."

Sadly, trashy TV shows garner ratings and young children are in the audience. Worse, most of the parents I talk to don't know about the programs their kids watch.

Studies have long proved that television content promotes similar behavior in viewers. TV shows obviously are effective in establishing trends and fads that kids enthusiastically follow. The bottom line: Kids adopt the culture they see on TV.

This is why America's parents need to do a better job of sheltering kids from destructive content on TV. It would be nice if there were fewer shows that corrupted our children's innocence and taught them about things beyond their years, but we can't count on the FCC or our local broadcasters to do our job for us. It's up to us to be the filters through which our children absorb the culture.

If parents were more responsible for their children's media consumption and actually talked to them about sensitive stuff like sex, then we wouldn't have those big phony controversies like Janet Jackson's breast, the porno in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, bad words and body parts accidentally exposed on TV, FCC regulation, and anything else that fits in "culture wars".

After Sarah Palin released her memoir Going Rogue (much of it is factually challenged garbage) the Late Show with David Letterman featured a recurring segment, "Things More Fun Than Reading the Sarah Palin Memoir".

Hmm, how about a list of "TV Shows More Fun to Watch than Jersey Shore (If you love to laugh at dumb people)" - since shows like Jersey Shore and The Real World parade idiots for us to laugh at.

As far as I know,

The Office - a workplace sitcom that spins awkward situations into humorous plots. Recently, there was a story arc in which boss Michael Scott admits to dating co-worker Pam Halpert's mother. That causes a brief rivalry, reconcilation, and then re-agitation between Michael and Pam. (episodes in question: and ). I think that kinda story could be easily something from The Maury Show or any of MTV/VH1's crappy reality shows, but the geniuses behind this show actually have the creative liberty to make something worthwhile of this.

My Name is Earl - title character wants to correct all the wrongs in his life and runs into trouble trying to do so.

All in the Family - 1970s sitcom that was said to have changed American cultural attitudes. Character Archie Bunker looks and talks like Rush Limbaugh, but at least you can safely laugh at Bunker's archaic bigotry without being accused of being a bigot.

Those are just a few shows I think are more time-worthy if you feel like watching idiots in action and laugh.

(on edit) Oh i forgot: Penn & Teller: Bullshit! - I just started watching season 1 on DVD, and it's funny to see P&T wittily dissing and breaking down the stupidest ideas and innovations known to mankind.