Garden State

As much as I loved The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I knew that I was loving it for all the wrong reasons. I'm New Jersey all the way: born here, went to college here, have lived here all my life. About ten percent of the people I've met fit the yelling, lunkheaded Jersey stereotypes we've seen on TV since The Sopranos; what I don't understand is where reality TV's recent fascination has been with the louder residents of the Garden State.

First it was Housewives. Then it was Cake Boss, where Buddy Valastro and his crew scream and gesture so much it's a wonder how their cakes don't collapse in the oven. Even TLC's relatively gentle Masters of Reception seemed to highlight the more "Jersey" aspects of my home state.

Now we have Jersey Shore, an MTV reality series premiering December 3. It documents goings on last summer in a shore house with the "hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos," according to this particularly annoying promo:

The other day I wrote about watching Mercy during a mini-marathon that aired last Saturday on Bravo. Is it possible that someone at NBC Universal was reading my plaudits for the company using Bravo to promote an NBC drama series? I think so, because today comes to the news that two of the Real Housewives of New Jersey will guest on Mercy.

That's right; you didn't read it wrong. Teresa Giudice and Jacqueline Laurita, the two who were having babies in season one of the show, will appear as themselves on the NBC medical drama, according to the Ausiello Files.

Digital Spy is reporting that Scrubs star Zach Braff thinks his time on the NBC comedy is coming to an end. "My guess is that this will be my last season," he told Premiere magazine. "Whether or not they continue without me, I don't know. I have had this amazing run on the show and I love it and I'm so grateful, but I want to make movies full time."

Sigh. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge Braff his burgeoning writing and directing career; I enjoyed Garden State, and am looking forward to seeing how he and Bill Lawrence do a new version of Fletch. And I think he'll make a great romantic comedy lead. But since the show is told mostly through the thoughts of Braff's character J.D., it seems unlikely that the show would survive without him. I don't even want to see Lawrence make the attempt; he tried doing something like that when Michael J. Fox left Spin City, and the show became a shell of its former self. I guess six years was more than any Scrubs fan could have hoped for, but I hope that Braff reconsiders and rides the gravy train for an additional year or two.

When Jon mentioned that the night's guest was going to be Natalie Portman, the audience seemed really excited. She was here to promote her new movie, V for Vendetta, which, as Jon noted, is rarely seen in children's books. "V is for Vendetta! Billy carried out a 'vendetta' against all those that he thought had wronged him!"...  "V is for Vagina" is also surprisingly rare.

Saturday Night Live has lined up some pretty impressive talent to host the show this month. I'm sure the first host, Scarlett Johansson, will boost the ratings. Her appearance, on January 14th, coincides with the release of the first of two Woody Allen movies that she stars in. She seems like a gutsy gal, so hopefully the SNL writers can come up with some bold sketches for her. The band Death Cab for Cutie is scheduled to perform the same night. And on January 21 is Peter Sarsgaard, who has had supporting roles in Jarhead, Flightplan, Kinsey, The Skeleton Key, and was terrific in Zach Braff's Garden State. I can't find a whole lot about Peter's background on the internet-- I was wondering whether he had any experience in improv or stand-up comedy, but I can't tell. And, I'm not sure what his appearance coincides with since IMDB lists his last flick as Jarhead, which doesn't come out on DVD until March. The musical guest pairing up with Sarsgaard is The Strokes. Wouldn't it be nice if these actors could get some good sketches on SNL?