By Gina O’Neill
Copy Editor
Watching “Secret Life of the American Teenager” with my Italian mom was like wearing an itchy sweater my grandmother made for me: I felt incredibly uncomfortable wearing it but obligated to sit with her and endure the pain, all due to how it might “teach me what not to do.”
Usually, watching TV shows or movies with parents that involve sex is undesirable — the complete opposite of how the shows want viewers to feel.
“Jersey Shore” is the exception to that rule. When I watched the first episode of the new season of “Jersey Shore” with my mom, she didn’t scoff in disgust at talk of the “smush room;” she just made one simple comment:
“There are too many Italians in that house.”
And she has a point.
As “Jersey Shore” returned home to Seaside Heights, N.J. for its third season, it had potential to be one of the best seasons yet. Angelina — that girl everyone hated — was gone, a second Snookie waddled into the house and there was still a heaping plate of drama among the resident females.
However, the new season already looks like a mess of pasta just waiting to spill over onto a floor  that Snookie won’t be able to clean up. Deena, the new “meatball” — as Sammie calls Snookie and Deena — of the house, has energy to match that of Snookie’s, but she’s too eager to prove that she can compete with ol’ Snooks.
Deena already flirted it up with Vinny and showed Mike “The Situation” her hoo-ha, nagging him to the point of her next offense: getting into it with Sammie. There was already tension in the house from the previous seasons’ rifts because Sammie duked it out with Snookie and JWoww over if Ronnie was cheating on Sammie, and if he was, why they didn’t tell her earlier. This season, Deena took the battle too far and started an all-out girl fight.
It’s refreshing to have someone new in the house, and the first episode has to be about more than who gets which room – which did start some drama — but Deena went overboard with all the elements that make reality TV a dirty pleasure. She played the party/get drunk card, which led to the sex card and the inevitable intoxicated fight card . Sure, these cards might seem like aces on their own, but having them all in one hand makes this episode seem more like a fold than a flush.
The overintensity of the first episode just proved that there are too many strong personalities living under one roof, and although it makes for some good times, it ultimately leads to nonstop fighting.
The first episode did have its moments, though. The best part was when Sammie made fun of Deena’s Jersey accent by repeating, “first of awwwll, second of awwlll.” That’s like the pasta calling the meatball “Italian.”
During the second episode, however, Deena’s antics didn’t seem as outrageous because most of the tension was turned toward Ronnie and Sammie. When Ronnie and Sammie isolate themselves from the group because of the previous arguments, it starts to feel uncomfortable, and Sammie’s negative attitude is enough to make me Sammie’s trademark word: “sick.”
Sammie, however, just recently apologized to Snookie and Deena, so that should alleviate some of the awkward “situations” among standofffish roommates. Yet, previews for the whole season show that the fighting is not over, and that’s not a surprise either.
“Jersey Shore” started off a bit too strong, and although the friction in the house has died down a little, it won’t be long before hoop earrings are flinging across the room, ridiculous Jersey accents are wailing profanities and Snookie is falling down drunk.
After all, Mom does know best.