Jersey Shore Alum Gets Fists Pumping On Pauly D Project

At least I would imagine he did. I'm not entirely sure since I haven't yet seen the first "Jersey Shore" spinoff because my DVR just can't record ten programs at the same time. I was torn as well about watching it in the first place because I am a little disappointed by the changes in Pauly D since he first set foot in the "Jersey Shore" house, and on my plasma, in December of 2009.

Now why would anyone in my age range watch “Jersey Shore?” Good question! I'm still not entirely sure what got me started, but I was hooked by the absolute insanity of the characters on the show. Of all of them, best buddies, Vinnie (Vincenzo Guadagnino) and Pauly D (Paul DelVecchio) were my faves. Pauly D was definitely the cutest of the boys while Vinnie seemed to have the highest IQ. Only later did I find out that at that point, Vinnie was barely legal and Pauly D was nearing the dreaded 3-0 in age.

Others may have wondered why anyone would put themselves on a show like “Jersey Shore,” where most of the cast ended up looking like sex-crazed, alcoholic morons, but hey, why not? If I were of the age where MTV was ready to offer me a reality program where I needed to do little except party and GTL, I surely would jump at the chance.

But I digress...

Back to Pauly D. I've noticed over the last couple of seasons, that someone who was once a generally nice guy has turned kind of mean. It saddens me to see what a little bit of fame does to so many, but with Pauly, as well as other males on the “Jersey Shore” cast, they seem to have forgotten the very people who helped make their careers – their fans, especially those of the female variety.

Sure, the boys called the less than attractive girls, “grenades” from the start, but never to their faces. I remember seeing the boys being quite polite to everyone, young and old during the first couple of seasons, but something happened after that. Just last season, one young woman had obviously developed a crush on Pauly D and was immediately dubbed his “stalker.” She appeared everywhere and Pauly made no attempt to hide his contempt for her, making rude comments about her and her appearance. When she got to meet Pauly, he cracked some rude joke and took off and the young woman looked devastated.

I noticed some of the other cast members had taken up this “hobby” as well and seemed to make quite a game out of how many of the locals they could utterly humiliate on camera. And again I wonder who they think turned them into household names, virtually overnight.

I don't expect any of them to fall all over themselves thanking everyone they meet, but I get the feeling none of them realize just how lucky they are and how quickly that luck can change.

I'll be catching the repeat of “The Pauly D Project” tonight and hope to see the funny guy I saw that first season of the “Jersey Shore.” If not, I'm afraid tonight's viewing of Pauly's show will be my last.

How Did I Manage To Miss “16 And Pregnant?”

First off, let me start by saying, I am not exactly a fan of the concept of this MTV television show, at least not its earliest incarnations of it. With that being said, I have been a faithful viewer since the first season and have also followed “Teen Mom.”

Now that I have my DVR set to record a repeat of the latest season premiere, I did a little search on what the previous mothers featured in this series have been up to since their seasons of “16 and Pregnant” and a couple of follow-up years on “Teen Mom,” hit the airways.

The first two seasons of “16 and Pregnant” followed the lives of several girls as they dealt with the issues that come along with teen pregnancy. While it seems true that teen mothers tend to breed more teen mothers, seeing the perks offered by MTV to those unfortunate enough to be in that situation seemed to spawn a few of their own as well. Several of the young women featured had friends and family members that magically turned up pregnant, in hopes that MTV would find their stories as compelling and offer them the chance at fame and a nice paycheck.

For the girls whose lives were further showcased on “Teen Mom,” that meant the biggest payday of all because the mothers were given a hefty salary for that show themselves, without the majority having to be put in trust for their children.

Amber Portwood, one of the hottest messes of all the mothers featured, had to report her salary to a judge in court back in 2010 (not sure if this was for the domestic violence charges against her, fraud or those pesky drug charges) and the grand total for this “poor teen mom” was $280,000.

I do believe, however, that MTV may have seen the error of their ways. After the first couple of seasons of “16 and Pregnant,” they seemed to stop offering the “Teen Mom” gig to the girls, replacing that series instead with a simple follow-up show to check-in on the girls and their children.

Or maybe MTV realized that besides giving great incentive for young teens to get knocked up, it was also incredibly difficult for the general public to muster up much sympathy for a gang of teen girls that were consistently shown enjoying days at the spa, new cars, new apartments, designer bags, vacation trips and breast enhancement surgery.