So it's old news that everyone (in the jump-a-trend-and-ride-it-to-death vein of business) and their mother is doing a take-off of 'Jersey Shore'. There's a Russian-American one (Brighton Beach) and - though I didn't know this - one set in a nursing home? Then, there's this one with an Asian-American cast.
Now, much of the appeal of the original was its mix of boobs - both male and female (though, you gotta admit, mostly male!) - booze and...well, boobs (idiots)! Koreatown sticks to the same formula with similarly tacky/trashy-and-proud-of-it Asian-Americans (though slightly skewed more towards the FLASHY end of the spectrum, as opposed to just trashy/tacky)...at least from the looks of the press photos.
Produced by Tyrese (?), the show hasn't been picked up by a network or cable channel yet, so they may be looking for all the press/attention they can get. Still, one thing about the story of the Koreatown show - an aspect that was clearly pitched to the Post and likely sold the piece - confuses me, given that the boys of Jersey Shore were (unsurprisingly) overtly heterosexual and fairly defensive when it came to any question regarding their sexuality. Sure, there was the whole thing with The Situation having been a former dancer with the strip troupe 'All American Male', but particular brand of "erotic entertainment" still invests energy in maintaining that it is primarily for bachelorette parties and lonely/horny women everywhere, as opposed to anything gay. In the Koreatown cast, however, we've got one Peter Le...also known as Peter Fever, a porn star of sorts whose website includes thousands of photos and videos of him in various "erotic" situations. One - in an image NSFW (after the jump) - shows him apparently getting hard while looking at photos of naked men. It's a video and I'm not a member of his website so I can't ascertain the exact situation (ha HA!) or whether it might be pictures of himself he's jacking to, but - regardless - he's gone much further than any self-respecting (is that oxymoronic?) cast member of 'Jersey Shore' would into the gray area of gay-for-pay porn and is seemingly unconcerned about possibly appearing bisexual or even homosexual.
(Any image after the jump is NOT safe for work)
Perhaps he IS homosexual. Perhaps the producers diverged from the overtly macho and frat-douched casting premise of Jersey Shore in an attempt to differentiate the two shows? Or perhapsMr. Le simply embodies (*groan*) the "perfect storm", if you will, of controversy inviting attributes, personality traits and previous life experiences?
Either way, in the end it's the bastard offspring of a show whose key vignettes revolve around drinking and being obnoxious, and whose appeal relies heavily on cultural/ethnic stereotypes.
As Tai would say, it's a sure thing.
