Jersey Shore Washes Over Hollywood

Published on Friday, January 29 2010

Written by Super User

Last month, in December, while MTV's latest hit show "Jersey Shore" was only 3 episodes into its 1st season, several cast members descended upon Los Angeles for their very first publicity tour.  It began on a Saturday, with Spike TV's Video Game Awards, where Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, "Pauly D" Del Vecchio, and Jenni "JWoww" Farley presented an award alongside Mike Tyson.  Afterwards, the foursome decided to go out to celebrate.  They arrived at the club MyHouse, where I was hosting a party, so I greeted them at the door and pulled them past the velvet ropes.

 

Rumors had been swirling around town that "Jersey Shore" cast members were not being let into various lounges & nightclubs in Los Angeles.  The perception was that they were "a liability" because they were seen on TV always getting into fights.  But as soon as you actually meet them, and give them a fair chance, you quickly realize they are nice kids just looking to go out and have a good time.  I'm from New Jersey, so I was on their side right off the bat.  Now they'd made it to Hollywood, and they were very excited about it, and I could see that they were going to try to make the best impression and be on their best behavior.  They weren't at the Jersey Shore anymore.

As we walked into MyHouse, they told me about the Spike awards and how everyone from Zach Braff (another Jersey native) to Snoop Dogg was running up to get pictures taken with them.  It was surreal for them that the stars they were meeting were just as starstruck as they were, if not more so.  As soon as we were inside the club, they were literally attacked by fans.  Girls were pulling up Mike's shirt and kissing his now-famous abs or asking Pauly D if they could touch the spikes in his hair.  Guys were hitting on JWoww and Snooki, and asking for their numbers.  They had instantly made their presence known.  When Simon Rex, a self-proclaimed fan of the show, got on stage to perform as his alter ego, Dirt Nasty, he gave them a big shout-out.  The crowd went wild.  Before the night was over, I took a photo with the group and TwitPic'ed it onto my Twitter, as a statement of Jersey pride.

Me, Snooki, JWoww, The Situation, and Pauly D

The next morning I received a call from Ashton Kutcher and my buddy T.J. Jefferson.  Turns out they saw the TwitPic and are huge fans of "Jersey Shore".  They asked me if I could bring the cast by Ashton's Katalyst office for a meet-and-greet and said that Ashton wanted them to appear as guests on his UStream online show.  I passed the message along to Mike, Snooki, and Pauly, who were very excited about the prospect of meeting Ashton.  They told me that they extended their stay in LA to shoot segments with Jay Leno,Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and George Lopez.  This meant Ashton's dream could come true.  As he wrote on his Twitter, "I have a very serious meeting w/ Mike "The Situation" Pauly-D & Snooki 2morrow. They R teachin me how 2 B a Guido"¦they are bringing shirts and hair gel. I'm gonna get Mike The Situation to give me a new ab workout"

Cut to Monday at 1pm: I meet up with Mike, Snooki, & Pauly at Katalyst and soon they are face to face with Ashton.  They came bearing gifts for him: Spiker hair gel, bronzer, and t-shirts, just in case Ashton wanted what they called "a guido makeover".  Not only did he tell them that "Jersey Shore" is his favorite show, but he praised them for being true to themselves and for owning their individuality.  In return, they taught him how to properly fist-pump and "beat up that beat".  You can check out a piece of the interview HERE

Clearly the tides were turning for the cast of "Jersey Shore".  Instead of people laughing at them, now everybody was starting to laugh with them.  I took them out to Guys & Dolls on Tuesday night and they were greeted and treated like rock stars.  Guys and girls alike were screaming "The Situation!" at the very sight of Mike.  Reality stars tend to get more of this kind of reaction than movie stars, since they seem more approachable and people feel like they really know them.  Hardly a minute went by without someone asking one of them to pose for a picture.  They were gracious, happy, and having a good time.  Though it was a late night of celebrating their new-found success, I asked them to please try to get a good night's sleep, because in the morning they would be starring in their first acting gig: "The Real Situation" for FunnyOrDie.com.

On Wednesday, I met up with Mike, Snooki, and Pauly at their hotel to direct them in "The Real Situation".  For three people who had never acted before, they were quick learners.  When I first showed them the script, which had them lampooning themselves (and their television personas), they were very good sports about it.  The concept of the digital short is that they are really classically trained actors playing these over-the-top roles on what is a scripted TV show called "Jersey Shore".  They nailed it.  And even improvised some stuff that made the cut.  The goal of the short, which I created with producer Jake Avnet and writer DJ Lubel (who makes a cameo as the hotel bellhop), was to show the world that the "Jersey Shore" cast members were actually likable.  Mission accomplished.

 

The video hit FunnyOrDie and spread like wildfire through email forwards, FaceBook posts, and Twitter updates, reaching more than half a million views in its first week.  It became the subject of articles all over the web, including Entertainment Weekly, People, TV Guide, OK, MTV, Comedy Central, MSN's Wonderwall, Access Hollywood, X17, Gawker, the LA Times, the NY Daily News, and the NJ Star Ledger.  Viewer comments on several blogs had fans asking if the cast really was acting on the show and if it really might be scripted.  A great debate had begun.   MTV picked up "The Real Situation" short and aired it on a special called "Jersey Shore: Spoof'd".  It was just one of many projects I plan to direct with cast members from "Jersey Shore".

Pauly D and The Situation behind the scenes of "The Real Situation"

Over the course of the next month after shooting "The Real Situation", the "Jersey Shore" cast's likability factor did, in fact, increase exponentially.  The Situation found himself as part of the pop culture collage on the cover of Entertainment Weekly's year-end "Best of 2009" edition.  Magazine covers for People and Life & Style soon followed for the cast.  Then sightings in OK, photo spreads in InTouch, and articles in Rolling Stone.  Snooki & The Situation were quickly becoming household names.  Pauly D was booking DJ gigs all across the country.  Viewers came out of the woodwork, as ratings continued to grow.  Week after week 2 million became 3 million became 4 million, and then the finale on Thursday January 21st broke records with nearly 5 million viewers.  "Jersey Shore" was now the #1 show on basic cable in the 18-49 demographic--and had the highest-rated episode of any regular series in MTV's history.

According to the LA Times: "The finale of MTV's "˜Jersey Shore' was, as Snooki might say, big like a gorilla juicehead.  Thursday's season-ending episode delivered 4.8 million viewers. That's almost triple the audience who watched the series premiere on Dec. 3. It's a fairytale turnaround for the show that debuted mired in controversy for its use of the term "Guido" and stereotypical portrayal of young Italian-Americans."

There seemed to be a need for people to watch new episodes of the show as soon as they aired the first time, as if it meant being part of a public conversation, even though MTV is known for replaying its shows endlessly over the weekend and the following week.  Not to mention the options of OnDemand & iTunes.  "Jersey Shore" had become the "˜watercooler' show of the moment.

 

The season finale was followed by a reunion special, which held onto its lead-in's ratings.  The reunion had been filmed a week prior on January 13th in""you guessed it""Hollywood.  This time, all eight cast members were flown out to LA to participate.  This meant more TV shoots, with everyone from Chelsea Handler to Rob Dyrdek, and, of course, more partying at the nightclubs.  Now clubs had changed their tune and were gladly inviting them in.  That Wednesday, after shooting the reunion special, they hit the Vida Internationale launch event at Voyeur, where they got to hang out with some of their famous fans, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Connolly, and Lindsay Lohan.  According to Mike, Leo greeted him with a "GTL All Day"- a nod to one of his many "Jersey Shore" catchphrases ("G.T.L." = "Gym. Tan. Laundry.").  Then Thursday night they joined DJ Vice on stage at Playhouse, in front of an adoring crowd of fist-pumping fans.  And on Friday night they popped bottles at Coco de Ville, where DJ Rick Rude took their requests and Andy Milonakis took pictures with them (and posted them up on his Twitter).

 

Their January return to Hollywood was all in a week's work for the cast of "Jersey Shore", who found themselves laughing all the way back to New Jersey. And the bank.  They are currently in negotiations with MTV for a major pay increase for Season 2.  Stay tuned...

 

-Brett Gursky, YH Scene Contributor, Hollywood insider and Director of "The REAL Situation"