Three Good Reasons to Watch Jersey Shore

Lately, I’ve noticed that my DVR is missing its usual ration of guilty-pleasure TV. My favorites, like Toddlers and Tiaras and The Real Housewives of New Jersey, are on hiatus so it was time for a new I-can’t believe-I’m-watching-this series.

Why, hello, Jersey Shore! At first, I feared that this tanned, gelled, muscle-bound cousin of The Real World was just too obnoxious to watch. Here are eight twenty-somethings who are hell-bent on upholding the stereotypes (they’ve already been criticized for proudly calling themselves “Guidos” and “Guidettes”) and the party-til-you-puke reputation of the summer revelers of Seaside Heights, N.J. And I’m spending my evening watching this?

You can bet your booty shorts I am! Here’s why …

1. It’s hysterical. Let’s be honest: The fun of this show is laughing at its stars. I’m not laughing with them, and neither are you. Case in point? Nicole, a.k.a. “Snooki,” describes her ideal mate to be,

A Night Out With | Members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation : And the Beat Goes On

Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times NO FAME, PLEASE Members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation dine anonymously at the W Hotel after their exhibition in Miami Beach.

MIAMI BEACH

ON one half of the ballroom at the W Hotel last Wednesday eve during Art Basel Miami Beach, you had the super-rich and trust-funded — Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping heir; Brandon Davis, the oil heir; Peter Brant, the newsprint magnate.

And the other half — like an art world version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video — was a group of post-art-schoolers with grown-out hair and functional, button-up shirts. They were the members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation, a five-year-old collective of artists based in New York City who have become the darlings of the art world. Vito Schnabel, the 22-year-old son of the artist Julian Schnabel, curated their show and brought his famous friends.

Real Housewives of O.C.: Kids These Days

This week on The Real Housewives, the ladies were (for the most part) focused on being good mothers to their children. And these kids of Orange County have their fair share of problems — from missed curfews to broken hearts to facing jail time. Here’s how the women worked it out:

Vicki: After meeting an insurance colleague’s son in St. Thomas, Vicki decided he might be able to cure her heartbroken daughter, Briana, 22. So, she flew Chris from Indianapolis to Orange County for a three-day blind date. At first, it looked like there could have been a love connection but things got awkward quickly when the potential couple ran out of things to talk about. A clueless Vicki thought all was well while Briana looked like she wanted to hide.