MTV launched “Jersey Shore” 13 years ago featuring a group of young Italian Americans partying it up in a rental home at Seaside Heights, New Jersey, becoming a beachside hit with memorable reality show characters like Snooki, DJ Pauly D and “The Situation” coining phrases like ”grenade” and “gym, tan, laundry.”
Now a greatly shrunken MTV cable network has announced an upcoming “Jersey Shore” spinoff with a decidedly confusing title: “Buckhead Shore.”
Shore? Sure, the Chattahoochee River hugs the west border of Buckhead but that is hardly a summer beach resort. It makes as much sense as “Buckhead Ski Resort” or “Buckhead Swamp.”
MTV’s press release description sheds a little light: “The shore franchise heads to Buckhead, Georgia, to follow the interpersonal lives of a group of friends making a name for themselves in the ‘Beverly Hills of the South’ as they escape their everyday life and head to the lake shore to let loose.”
Metro Atlanta is famously landlocked. The closest genuine beach is hundreds of miles away. But the reference to “lake shore” likely alludes to Lake Lanier 50 miles northeast where many Buckhead residents do own or rent lakeside homes.
The fact the show is using “Buckhead” in its name at all shows how well known the wealthy enclave is among folks outside of Atlanta. The many fancy mansions, art galleries, and upscale malls all carry cachet.
The phrase “Beverly Hills of the South,” though, is clearly written by someone who probably lives in Los Angeles. Does anyone in Atlanta ever describe Buckhead that way?
And Atlantans know Buckhead is not a city the way the descriptive makes it sound like it is. It’s simply a well-known neighborhood in the city of Atlanta. Yes, there is a small faction that wants to turn it into an actual city, but that is unlikely to be brought up on an MTV show full of young adults looking to drink heartily and hook up.
Also, there is an actual Buckhead town in Morgan County 66 miles east of Atlanta but that is not at all what this show is referencing.
“Buckhead Shore” already filmed episodes earlier this year and there is a Reddit discussion board about the show.
There was a “Jersey Shore” spin-off which debuted in 2017 that actually featured the beach for most of its run called “Floribama Shore.” It was filmed in Panama City Beach, Florida, its first two seasons, then St. Pete Beach season three, and due to COVID-19, non-beach locales in Montana and Arizona season four.
