Why is this offensive?

Because every group doesn't like it when the reason for the stereotypes are showcased.

Those Italians are the way they are and other Italians are the way they are.

What a waste of time

But we (NJ) didn't have a problem with The Sopranos? Lighten up, Francis...I think the show is awesome. I don't mock them because they're Italian - I mock them because they're so stupid.

El Chode: it's actually a stereotype of New Yorkers more than Italians. Sopranos does a much better job profiling the Italians in this state: the ones who are connected, the ones who wish they were, and the ones with a self-loathing fascination with all things mafia related.

I'm of Italian descent and I grew up in the Bronx..although I was never involved in it in any way (and had no desire to do so), you knew who was who. I don't have any self-loathing about the mob..it is what it is. Although the Italians are the best known, nearly every ethnic group has a similar type of gangster, whether it's the triads in Chinatown, or the Irish or the Russians or the Yakuza. In the early days, the Italians, the Irish, and the Jews were all involved, working with or against each other (Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, et al)

THESE douchebags, on the other hand, make me sick.

They don't need to cancel it. One hand grenade. That's all it would take to save the world from those insufferable douches. That or some gasoline. MTV would never film a show in the burn ward. Though I would want them to make an exception in this case.

savage henry: I guess they won't call the show 'Italians from Staten Island'...

On top of it.

/we're gonna bang

http://i369.photobucket.com/albums/oo139/basemetalTF/snooki.gif?t=1261680518

Too big for fark. Great role models for our youth.

Sorry Subby, but I put Florida and most of the Bible Belt is in front of New Jersey in the line of states which need to be cancelled.

/Florida counts as Bible Belt, but it has a Fark tag all its own.

Sorry, but any of these so-called Jersey Guidos met a typical East Boston/Revere native, they would end up like Silvio at the end of The Sopranos.

/and Snooki would have a bloody bald scalp and a wired jaw where her nose receded into her face

I don't think I ever actually noticed that spiked-hair, super tanned guido look until whatsisface did it on Growing up Gotti. This leads me to believe that Italian Americans like watching TV shows about Italian Americans, and then model their lifestyle off of what they see on TV. And I guess this is what has the Jersey leaders all up in arms about.

But do people of other ethnicities do this too? Do they ALL do this all the time? This is something I don't get.

I'm of Scottish descent, but if there was a TV show about Scottish people doing who knows what, I wouldn't be the slightest bit interested in watching it. Hell, I'm Canadian, and I wouldn't even watch a show about Canadians, unless it was funny. Come to think of it, I don't think ethnicity has EVER been a selling point when I watch TV. Ever.

I watch shows directed at ethnic audiences all the time, without wondering whether it was meant for me.

But do all people really think that way? Do they go "I'm Italian, and this show has Italians in it, so I gotta watch it and then dress and act like them, because that's how Italians behave."

Do Mexicans do that with Mexican shows? Do Asians do that with Asian shows? Is this problem systemic among everybody who takes pride in their ethnicity, or just the dumb ones?

Sultan Of Herf: Ummm...no. Ive lived in FL for almost 13 years, unfortunately. Anyhow, though there are a fair amount of churches here, its definitely not bible belt. It is many different shades of annoying and stupid, but thats not one of them.

Yeaah..... Spend sometime in NWF and see if you still feel that way. There is more to the state than the central and south parts. Not much but there is some stuff there.

I think my new band is going to be called "Guido Jihad"

/they are self-aware
//they will rule the world
///they need camaros and hair gel

I know that the people in The Hills aren't a decent representation of everyone in California.
But for it's area, it's damn close.

Burn it, burn it all

I'm not surprised there are stupid people on television.
But I am constantly surprised that the people who watch this stereotype-travesty
would emulate the soylent green they see behaving like children on the talking box