It's rather astounding to me that there are still new Jersey Shore parodies popping up. For such a superficial, largely garbage-filled TV show that by the end of its third season has essentially become a parody of itself, there are still people out there attempting -- and, on rare occasion, succeeding -- to extract gems from the pile. Is this why we, as a culture, have allowed ourselves to become so unabashedly fascinated by the guidos? Are they really so shallow and idiotic that the inverse is true about their potential for mockery: brilliant and limitless?

No, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The clock is ticking, and soon, no matter how different and smart and funny your Jersey Shore parody is, it's going to be stale and played out. If we haven't reached that point already. And today is a good today to decide if we have, as two wildly different Jersey Shore parodies are making their way around the internet: One successful, and one ... not so much. Watch them both, and you be the judge: Is there still juice left in the internet Jersey Shore mockery market? Or, like our latter example here, are they all just expected and sad?

The Right Way: Jersey Shore Gone Wilde
The thespian fellows over at Playbill.com decided to rework some of their favorite "deep" Jersey Shore-isms in the style of Oscar Wilde. It works thanks to their elevated delivery and faux seriousness, not to mention those classy accents. But, as I said before, the show's stars basically pulled this trick on themselves more than a year ago. Granted, they did it poorly, as is their way. But still! (Follow this video link to Youtube for Parts 2-4 of the "Gone Wilde" series.)


The Wrong Way: Martin Short's "Jersey Short"
I love Martin Short, and it deeply pains me to say anything he does isn't comedy gold. (I'd like to think that, since Jimmy Kimmel loves mocking Jersey Shore, this was all his idea and Martin just went along with it because he's a kind and generous man.) But I couldn't even get all the way through this video. He's essentially doing the opposite of the video above: Taking direct quotes from the show and performing them in almost the exact same scenarios in which they appeared on the show. Where is the humor in that? It's just cheap and gross, and we get enough of that, more "authentically" (if I can use that word), on the actual Jersey Shore. I had to stop when he gave birth to the pickle. I can't watch Martin like this. 


As long as Jersey Shore remains on the air -- which, from the looks of MTV's ratings and the cast's paychecks, will be until they die or MTV does -- there will probably be Jersey Shore parodies. But just like the show itself, the spoofs just aren't so fresh anymore. Maybe their trip to Italy next season will provide new avenues for mockery, but until then, funny ladies and gents: There are so many bad TV shows out there. How about picking a new target? 

(Image courtesy of MTV)