Source: THE DAILY of the University of Washington, July 21, 2010
Jersey Shore takeoff comes to K-Town
By Allen Wagner July 21, 2010
Yep, it’s happening.
An Asian-American version of MTV’s Jersey Shore.
No joke.
The show hasn’t been picked up by MTV yet, but I’m willing to bet the network will give K-Town — yes, it’s based in Los Angeles’ Koreatown — a shot on TV, and soon we’ll probably all be able to see the Asian-American iterations of Snooki and “The Situation” drunk with their friends, with empty soju bottles lined up on the table, all while going through some serious life drama.
You can thank singer-actor-turned-producer Tyrese Gibson, who is taking entertainment to exciting new lows with his K-Town pilot. And while I hate to judge a book by its cover, I’m pretty sure that this is going to be worse in every way than Jersey Shore was.
But when I say worse, I really mean awesome, because in today’s world, the more terrible something is, the more hilarious it becomes.
Yeah, I’m excited to see this, not really because I’m Korean-American, but because this show will be so bad that it will become must-see TV.
I can’t wait to see Saturday Night Live, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and The Soup ridicule this latest MTV creation.
And I can’t wait to see the look of horror on the faces of my Korean family as they see the sons and daughters of immigrants to the United States portrayed in such a horrible (awesome) fashion.
But really, is the kind of entertainment that Jersey Shore and now, likely, K-Town provides, really beneficial to anybody?
MTV earned criticism from various Italian-American groups for its portrayal of those young, overly tan vacationers on the Jersey Shore. And I’m sure if MTV picks up K-Town, it’ll get plenty of criticism from Asian-American groups — especially Korean organizations — for its stereotyping of the Koreatown lifestyle.
Meh, who am I kidding?
This show is going to be amazing.
Does it really matter when the show is on MTV — everyone’s favorite channel to make fun of — or if most people will only watch it because the acting is terrible and the situations the cast gets involved in are stupid?
I don’t really think so.
And if the cast reel — featuring heavily tanned and eye-lined Asian women with guys constantly lifting weights — is any indication, K-Town will be every bit as terrible as Jersey Shore, if not more.
Maybe K-Town will become the next cultural phenomenon.
At the very least, Asian-Americans worldwide can be proud that, finally, the full cast of a U.S. television show is Asian.
Just kidding.
Be ashamed. Be very ashamed in this case.
Just be sure to enjoy the show for what it truly is — really stupid.
And by stupid, I mean awesome.
Reach columnist Allen Wagner at opinion@dailyuw.com
No joke.
The show hasn’t been picked up by MTV yet, but I’m willing to bet the network will give K-Town — yes, it’s based in Los Angeles’ Koreatown — a shot on TV, and soon we’ll probably all be able to see the Asian-American iterations of Snooki and “The Situation” drunk with their friends, with empty soju bottles lined up on the table, all while going through some serious life drama.
You can thank singer-actor-turned-producer Tyrese Gibson, who is taking entertainment to exciting new lows with his K-Town pilot. And while I hate to judge a book by its cover, I’m pretty sure that this is going to be worse in every way than Jersey Shore was.
But when I say worse, I really mean awesome, because in today’s world, the more terrible something is, the more hilarious it becomes.
Yeah, I’m excited to see this, not really because I’m Korean-American, but because this show will be so bad that it will become must-see TV.
I can’t wait to see Saturday Night Live, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and The Soup ridicule this latest MTV creation.
And I can’t wait to see the look of horror on the faces of my Korean family as they see the sons and daughters of immigrants to the United States portrayed in such a horrible (awesome) fashion.
But really, is the kind of entertainment that Jersey Shore and now, likely, K-Town provides, really beneficial to anybody?
MTV earned criticism from various Italian-American groups for its portrayal of those young, overly tan vacationers on the Jersey Shore. And I’m sure if MTV picks up K-Town, it’ll get plenty of criticism from Asian-American groups — especially Korean organizations — for its stereotyping of the Koreatown lifestyle.
Meh, who am I kidding?
This show is going to be amazing.
Does it really matter when the show is on MTV — everyone’s favorite channel to make fun of — or if most people will only watch it because the acting is terrible and the situations the cast gets involved in are stupid?
I don’t really think so.
And if the cast reel — featuring heavily tanned and eye-lined Asian women with guys constantly lifting weights — is any indication, K-Town will be every bit as terrible as Jersey Shore, if not more.
Maybe K-Town will become the next cultural phenomenon.
At the very least, Asian-Americans worldwide can be proud that, finally, the full cast of a U.S. television show is Asian.
Just kidding.
Be ashamed. Be very ashamed in this case.
Just be sure to enjoy the show for what it truly is — really stupid.
And by stupid, I mean awesome.
Reach columnist Allen Wagner at opinion@dailyuw.com
So this show is basically an asian knockoff version of Jersey Shore. Not a good thing. Nobody likes a knockoff. So many knockoffs have lasted short lifes on MTV. I read other places that K-Town is a bit different from Jersey Shore. I hope so.
ReplyDeleteThe backlash that Jersey Shore got was from the stereotypes of how the media (past & present) portrayed Italians and Italian-Americans. so they were pissed with the media for years. Jersey Shore was just the last straw. Not only was Italians pissed, so were the people of New Jersey and The Shore. Also Snooki and JWOWW are't even Italians and only one person is from Jersey (JWOWW).
I don't think K-Town will get such a backlash as Jersey Shore. Asians will be mad, but it won't reach the capacity of Jersey Shore.