Good to see that this Jersey Shore thread has some meat to it.
Personally, I never understood the controversy surrounding this show. I don't see how this show is any different from all of the other shows on MTV and VH1, where you always see a couple of adults having fun and occasionally making fools out of themselves. And, as already mentioned, Jersey Shore definitely has elements of the advice and philosophies found in these DJ forums (i.e. working out, looking your best, being confident, accepting the reality of rejection, having fun, and feeling good about yourself). No one can deny that.
Mike The Situation makes the show. He has the best sense of humor, the funniest story lines, and he is always pulling females. It's almost as if he was a member of these forums years ago and decided to put everything he learned into practice. Even when he got hurt by Sammi (when she went for Ronnie), it didn't take him long (like less than an hour) to pull a girl who was just as hot and he got the girl while walking home from the club! By the end of the show, I think that he went a little overboard trying to prove himself to be a Super-Pimp, but he really was the standout star of the show.
Pauly D is cool. He has mad confidence and pulls his share of ladies. He never lets things get to him and always stays upbeat and positive, which is a very attractive quality. He had a good looking chick practically stalking him at the end of the first season. What more proof do you need that he has game?
Ronnie may come off a little submissive to Sammi but I never saw him as an AFC but rather a guy with a lot of patience. If you saw the reunion show, he showed that he was very capable of telling Sammi off if he wanted to. Plus, I don't remember an AFC who could fight the way he can. He destroyed the first guy he fought (a fight he was trying very hard to avoid) and I think he knocked out another guy with one punch. To me, Ronnie just tries to be a sweetheart to Sammi not out of neediness but because that's the kind of guy he is. But, I'm looking forward to Season Two, where we get to see him as a single guy.
Vinny was a bore to me but that may have been the result of poor editing. I saw some never-before-seen footage of him and he has some pretty cool moments and funny lines. I don't think he has the best game out of the group (probably due to his youth and the obvious straight-lace quality he has about him) but I think he does get his share of ladies. From the Season Two trailer, it looks like he will emerge as a bigger ladies man. Either way, he seems to have the most going for him apart from the show's success. He already has a college degree (Jwoww does also and maybe Sammi and Snooki do, too) and I've read that he plans on extending his education to the graduate level.
