At the end of her New Yorker piece on the Jersey Shore phenomenon, Nancy Franklin (basically) concludes: "this reality television show is kind of trashy!" Yes, Nancy Franklin, it is trashy. It is the latest in a long line of reality series designed to showcase some of the worst-and most entertaining-aspects of human nature. And Franklin is the latest in a long line of critics and viewers to notice that these Jersey Shore people are kind of weird with their questionable aesthetic choices and their odd vernacular and also, they drink and go out dancing and occasionally mack on each other! READ MORE

We actually look forward to the hate mail. Though this is particularly choice, from New Yorker TV critic Nancy Franklin. "I wrote about [Glenn] Beck last month, and now I've reconsidered my opinion of him and what he has to offer. I got a letter from a reader-not a letter, exactly, but my own piece torn from the issue and written on with black magic marker-that makes me realize how blind I've been." READ MORE

I have not seen this Jay Leno show that is on at 10 p.m. every night now and I most likely never will, because it's just an inconvenient time for me, and also, I have always despised him. It does not sound like something that will do anything for me. Today Nancy Franklin explains what it is all like, down to something called the "Ten @ Ten" segment: READ MORE