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Snooki and the Jersey Shore vs Tony Danza at the TCA's

By April MacIntyre Aug 7, 2010, 20:19 GMT

07/11/2010 - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi - "Jersey Shore" Hollywood, CA, USA © Kathy Maldonado / PR Photos

A tale of two Italian-Americans, as Snooki and Tony Danza were presented back-to-back at the Friday Television Critics Association summer press tour yesterday.

The "guido and guidette" event was popping all the Twitter feeds and paparazzi flashes on cameras, and then a more sober, loquacious and reflective Tony Danza was on panel for an A&E show "Teach: Tony Danza" immediately following the "GTL" hullabaloo.

On panel to speak about his A&E reality show that features Danza embedded in a high school teaching English to 10th graders, he addressed an Italian-American reporter's question about the dumbing down and bastardized Italian-American culture that gets a heaping helping of booze, bronzer, hot tubs and beach life via MTV's runaway hit series "Jersey Shore."

Danza blames the love affair with Snooki as an undermining influence on U.S. school kids: "I think shows like 'Jersey Shore' make it harder on teachers, in general. Every day I tell kids, 'good behavior will pay off,' and then they go home and watch that show and say 'wait a minute, Mr. Danza, you're wrong.  Bad behavior pays off.' So that is what I think.  That's what really hurts us. By the way, that is where we get into the cultural end of this. What is our responsibility? We yell about bad schools and bad teachers and failing schools, and then we pit shows on like that, that give the kids the wrong model, and then we're surprised when they act out."

photo by April MacIntyre on the Galaxy S Samsung ©M&C

The gravitas of that assessment did not phase the Jersey Shore gang, assembled on stage in what critics jokingly Tweeted amongst themselves (with the hashtag #TCA) that the notion of a "firing squad" came to mind.

They were tanned, sparkly, stuffed into too-tight micro dresses and slightly nonplussed in their marathon standing interview that went on nearly a half-hour.

The line of questions opened up with one critic asking: "Now that you have such a big platform, what message do you have for the world?"

Cue the big round of laughter.

The big announcement of course was that a new guidette was cast for the Jersey Shore house, and she's ready to party.  New Jersey native Deena Nicole Cortese has joined the cast of "Jersey Shore." A longtime friend of show favorite Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Cortese is ensconced with the cast and crew in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
Cortese is now part of the lineup which stars big money earners Snooki and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, with lesser players Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Ronnie Magro, Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola, Paul "DJ Pauly D" Del Vecchio and Vinny Guadagnino.

Cortese, 23, was all brashness and bravado on stage at the TCA's" who gave us the tight pitch on her character: "I'm class in a glass and party in a body."

The second season of the reality series premiered last week to walloping ratings, set in Miami.  The third season, after some salary wrangling, is now set back home in the Garden State, where we will see Cortese integrate into the cast.

The cast were genuinely comfortable in their skin and had some funny one liners, some inadvertent, as they gamely answered questions from a room full of people mixed in their feeling for the reality phenomenon that celebrates exactly what Danza and others concerned for the impressionable fear the most, coveting fame over substantive education and loftier goals.

"You'de be surprised how entertaining you are by being yourself."said Pauly D, answering one question.

"It's freakin' awesome," says Snooki answering one question about how she viewed the Saturday Night Live parody of her.

And when she was queried, Snooki explained her nickname: "Snookin' is when you're lookin'....like if you snook the night, then you took the night. Get it?"

Even politics came into play, as one reporter asked the group if New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's remarks were off putting, or if they would welcome him down to the beach house for some peppers and sausage: The Situation - who earlier said his six pack and green eyes "were working for him" - laughed and said he would definitely have Gov. Christie over for some grilled sausage and peppers.

In all fairness to Danza, he laid the ultimate blame for "Jersey Shore" not on the kids, but the suits:  "You can't hate the kids, but it's Viacom. It's the big companies.  When we were kids, they made movies for our parents.  They didn't make movies for us.  The kids are the target now, and the kids know it.  And that's what really makes this very difficult when it comes time to try to convince them 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is going to be important in your life."