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Very few shows, unscripted or scripted, have figured out how to keep evolving the way Jersey Shore Family Vacation has. And for this season, that’s meant abandoning a very central detail of their format: the fourth wall. You see, the cast members of Jersey Shore are aware they’re on a reality show, they’re aware that you’re aware they’re on a reality show, and they’ve never had more fun playing with that element.
Jersey Shore has always been a reality show/cultural study of east coast guidos as they fight, party, and oftentimes fight while they party. As Jersey Shore Family Vacation has shown for about the past month or so, both the partying and the fighting are certainly happening, maybe even more so and more intensely now than ever, nearly a decade since the show’s premiere.
Jersey Shore Family Vacation Part 2 currently finds the group camped out in Las Vegas (they’ll head back to the actual Jersey Shore later this season), and as Ronnie fights with the mother of his children, Jen, things elevate beyond the bad words in texts. Jen storms the Planet Hollywood suite where the cast is staying, screaming at her on-off boyfriend, showing up at times she’s not supposed to, and confronting his roommates. It’s been one of the wildest displays in the show’s history, which is really saying something, but so much so that production had to get involved.
That a situation was dire enough for producers to intervene is a new way of raising the level of drama we’re watching. We can figure out for ourselves that Jen is a bit…spirited. But she’s so much to handle that producers had to actually leave their perches in the shadows to be captured on camera, breaking up the illusion that everything we were witnessing wasn’t accompanied by a handful of crew members. And yet somehow, snapping us out of that makes it feel even MORE organic. Like, wow, it’s TOO much drama for the cameras to capture with just the castmates – even producers needed to step in to get this one under control!
Plus, the way they reason with and comfort Ronnie feels just about as raw as it’s going to get for this show. We’re hearing the advice that he’d normally get off camera while they’re all on camera. This signals to the audience, and probably Ronnie himself, that the producers are not just saying this to make a good show, but that they’re saying this at all is what makes the show good.
And of course once you realize what exactly is happening, it’s sad that this is a tiny baby girl’s reality at the moment, but Ronnie, and the show as a whole, has been responsible in showing what they can of his journey to legally get things squared away. It’s not only promising for those involved, but it only makes Ronnie’s dance-off with himself in the club later that night that much more rewarding.
The thing about this particular Ronnie showcase is that we’ve all put on one of these before. While just minutes before we were reminded he’s on a reality show, this celebration feels awfully genuine. We’ve all gotten hammy from time to time, or observed our friends partaking in that type of behavior. Sure, a bit of editing helps make the point, and make it even funnier in this moment, but the cast of Jersey Shore has figured out a way to expertly show off and still have it feel natural.
It was the natural progression for this group that self-awareness would kick in at some point. And it’s perhaps not to suggest that it’s taken this long, but that it’s taken this many marriages and babies and court cases for them to embrace a whimsical side of shooting this ridiculous TV show.
The most prominent form their silliness has taken is straight-to-camera Jim Halpert stares, though instead of John Krasinski using them on The Office out of exasperation, the Jersey Shore crew is doing it to punctuate jokes. Halpert’s were a way for him to ask the audience, “You saw what that person did too, right?” while the Jersey Shore cast wants to make sure, “You saw what *I* did, right?”
Without giving them the freedom to express themselves by staring directly into the lens, I mean, just think of how much quality content we’d be missing out on seeing this season! And not all reality shows, or their casts, could pull off this adjustment, which is perhaps why so few have ever dared. Allowing the show to grow and evolve via this development is for the best, as this group would surely find other methods in a desperate grab for attention or self-expression that could feel forced and showoff-y in a way that is much less fun. Rolling with them adopting the camera glances offers playful and just plain funny and effective moments that not so subtly move the show forward. By blatantly acknowledging the cameras, the Jersey Shore cast is making it feel much less like they’re being watched, and more like we’re all hanging out together. You know, like one big family.
