On Monday, July 31st, MTV is set to debut their latest reality show, "Siesta Key." Yes, the same producers who brought us groundbreaking and cultivating shows like "Teen Mom" and "Catfish" are ready to bless our television screens with another show about how hard it is to be rich and privileged.
"Siesta Key" is designed to be a modern mixture of "The Hills" and "90210," and is set Siesta Key, Fl. Recently, a Sarasota resident went viral after his Youtube rant on all of the false facts mentioned in the trailer about living in Florida (like the average temperature is 73 degrees). The resident, Louie Carey, fears that MTV will depict Siesta Key as a fun, party town and attract a mass of tourists to the predominately quiet, local area. Carey explains that this is what happened to Seaside Heights, NJ after the "Jersey Shore" was aired on their beaches.
But what is almost as cringey as the horrible acting in the show is how "Siesta Key" was even pitched to MTV studios. If you're a Florida resident, then you know who 1-800-ASK-GARY is. Owned by Dr. Gary Kompothecras, 1-800-ASK-GARY is a personal injury referral service and is the most popular in the state. Because of this, Gary Kompothecras is very rich, like owns a 30,000 square foot mansion on Siesta Beach rich. It was Gary Kompothecras who pitched the idea to turn the lives of his 22-year-old son, Alex, and his friends into a watchable drama and funded the filming for the pilot episode. Because when you're the son of Gary Kompothecras, you have the time to buy a show about your Playboy party lifestyle instead of actually having a real job.
So of course, MTV took the money! Ratings for the network have dropped drastically in the last five years since the invention of Netflix and Chill. The network has desperately been trying to restore their image with millennials and is looking for their next "it" show to do so.
Will "Siesta Key" be the television show that speaks to the new generation? Probably not. Will Sarasota County see an influx in tourism after the show airs? Whether or not the locals like it, it probably will happen. So if your taste in TV shows is total garbage, tune into MTV at 10 o'clock this Monday for the premiere of "Siesta Key." After, I will highly recommend watching a TED talk so there is at least a chance to recooperate whatever brain cells you lost after watching moron-televison.
