The news today is that "Jersey Shore" will soon be relegated to the has-been, garbage-bin of pop culture. One more season, then it's re-runs, then cleaned-up re-runs on a secondary network or cable channel. The forgettable spin-offs will fail to capture the original chemistry (such as it is) â€" what was the name of the show where whats-his-name from "Friends" moved to California with his sister? A few years from now, the stars will resurface on some version of "Celebrity Rehab", or some other human-wreck reality show. Yeah, they'll make money.
That Pauly D, made $10 million last year in appearances and that the students at our esteemed state university paid Snooki $32,000 â€" close to the yearly salary for a first year teacher â€" for a one night of, well, whatever it was, is more evidence of a society that has gone off the tracks. I'm not complaining. I'm surrendering the point.
But in time, nobody will buy JWoww's adjustable bathing suits or Snooki's animal print designs or want to hear Pauly D's rave sets, because the stars will recede into the nobodyness from which they came. That is, until, they're arrested for DUIs and domestic violence, file bankruptcy, or TMZ obtains a sex-video.
And don't believe for a second that "Jersey Shore" means the end of Guido-stereotyping. Not as long as there are Italians willing to profit from trashing their identity and culture. Remember, the show's creator is an Italian-American, as are its stars, and their families. There's money to be made playing cartoon characters; it is the oil in the engine our pop culture, from Honey Boo Boo to the thugs in rap.
But before "Jersey Shore" goes, let it be applauded for a redeeming quality almost no one talks about. It was an educational tool, a cautionary tale.
I confess, without too much shame, I watched the show with my kids for a season or two (before a I canceled all but basic cable). And what they learned was how drinking makes stupid people even stupider. And how drinking fuels emotions to go out of control leading to fights and arrests. And how drunks look to people not drunk. They learned that what looks like a cool club scene is just a bunch of lonely people trying to figure out how to collide with someone.
They learned that some relationships aren't worth having.
That you have to have the guts to get away from somebody you think you love because they're bad for you, and you end up in a destructive, downward spiral.
They learned what boys say behind girls backs. Or that some "friends" are two-faced manipulators. And trust is a precious commodity not to be given freely.
They learned that when the cameras are on, everything changes. That life becomes performance, and you what you are seeing may not be authentic.
Maybe most important, people who compromise their dignity and self-respect for fame are the butt of the joke.
And that's the bottom line of Jersey Shore: we weren't laughing with them, we were laughing at them. And yes, I know, they're laughing all the way to the bank, but at what cost?
Mark in the Morning is an online-only column from Star-Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno taking on the day's biggest issues in New Jersey and beyond. It appears weekday mornings on NJ.com.
Related coverage:
• 'Jersey Shore': MTV says it's gym, tan, game over for the series
• 'Jersey Shore' canceled: Why, and reasons you might miss it
• 'Jersey Shore' cast, fans and haters take to Twitter to react to show ending
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