Oh. Dear. I just realized that the new Real Housewives of New Jersey show is filmed just a few towns over from where I grew up. And it looks like they're going for every North Jersey stereotype possible.

What are the North Jersey stereotypes? Stephanie Plum?

Stephanie Plum is Central Jersey. North Jersey is The Sopranos.

Oh, Murano glass, right. Goombah Murano glass and then Dr. Melfi's like "What's wrong with Murano glass?" And then the whitebread Cusamanos feel stupid, but they have it coming.

Geez. They even copied the scenes along the Turnpike from the Sopranos intro.

The house of one of the Housewives is ridiculously tacky. We've also hit big hair, malls, and some of the strongest NJ accents I've ever heard from people in this age range.

Really, I do know a few people who talk like that, but everybody we've seen so far has the accent. Was "cannot pronounce t, er, or ing" a requirement for being on this show?

Probably. The ones from Orange County were bad enough, though.

Now that I think about it, using the scenes of the Turnpike actually makes no sense for this show. They're showing it as if it's driving home from the city, but that's not where the Turnpike goes.

Now that I think about it, using the scenes of the Turnpike actually makes no sense for this show. They're showing it as if it's driving home from the city, but that's not where the Turnpike goes.

heh. You've seen movies and TV with people driving across Memorial Bridge with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, and then suddenly turning left onto Pennsylvania Ave, and we think "hey, you're in Virginia".

I think the weirdest geography disconnect I've seen was in the movie Ransom. The kidnappers tell the parents to meet them at an old quarry in New Jersey. The only place in Jersey that would fit that description is the Palisades, and that is where they filmed those scenes. However, the directions for how to get there include "take the Saddle River Road exit." And they do actually have a shot of the car on Saddle River Road. Most of the movie was filmed in the city, and the Palisades are right across the bridge. They had to go about twenty miles out of their way to get that three-second shot of the sign for Saddle River Road.

heh. You've seen movies and TV with people driving across Memorial Bridge with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, and then suddenly turning left onto Pennsylvania Ave, and we think "hey, you're in Virginia".

Heh. (That kind of reminds me -- last time my parents were visiting, when they were trying to drive from my apartment to their hotel, which was on 17th and K or something like that, they ended up in Virginia. Twice. I still have no idea how they managed this.)