Remember MTV’s Buckwild? It was supposed to be the heir apparent to Jersey Shore, a steamy West Virginia mess about hard drinking and hooking up, but executives decided to pull the plug after several arrests and a cast member death. Well, it’s apparently back from the grave and ready to offer the world some more wild shenanigans thanks to a surprise renewal.
According to TMZ, the second season will follow an entirely new cast in, of all places, Alaska. None of the new characters on the show have been announced in any detail, but since producers have apparently shot skinny dipping scenes, snowmobile jumps and various bits of personal life drama, it’s a pretty good bet that we’ll be getting the same reality show personalities we typically do. Sorry, nerds, fatties, dweebs, posers, weirdos, artists, mathletes and the emotionally balanced, there’s no room for you in the reality show inn.
The first Buckwild was overwhelmed by controversy almost immediately. One cast member found herself in the middle of a drug raid, another was arrested for DUI, another found herself in court over a sex tape and then tragically, Shain Gandee died. Most observers expected the show to get cancelled, but the producers apparently weren’t among them. They were pretty irate when the plug was pulled. Threats of lawsuits and moving the program to another network followed and then suddenly, everything went quiet.
To be frank, I thought everyone stopped talking about Buckwild because they wanted to move on with their lives, but I guess that quiet had a lot to do with MTV and the producers working out an agreement to bring the show back. Yay, I guess.
Jersey Shore was too popular for this format to go away. Reality show producers will spend the next decade trying to find the perfect balance of personalities. Maybe these unknown Alaskans are it. Maybe they’re not. Either way, I suppose we’ll all get to see some snowmobiling injuries and barely legal boobs.
