“Floribama Shore” Is Just More Southern Cultural Exploitation from MTV and Viacom
Well well well. We thought we were over all of this dumb shit when CMT finally canceled its exploitative series Party Down South amid rape allegations, cast members leaving the show due to safety concerns, multiple arrests for DUI, theft, and back owed child support, let alone the rampant STD infestation on the set (probably). But CMT’s parent company Viacom is back with another abominable mischaracterizing of Southern culture called Floribama Shore, set to premier on MTV November 27th.
Sort of a mix between Party Down South and the original Jersey Shore, it puts eight 20-something party animals into a house together in Panama City Beach, and fuels the party with plenty of booze and stupidity, trying to sell it all as something resembling an accurate portrayal of Southern living.
Viacom first tried to soft peddle the idea by saying Floribama Shore “captures the very real thrill and angst of being young and trying to figure out the future with a group of people you’ll come to call family.” But of course as the previews emerged, it was the same salacious, wild-ass circus all of these stupid shows look to capture for shock value at the expense of the people and locations they portray. The cast of the new show is Gus Smyrnios (22), Jeremiah Buoni (22), Candace Rice (24), Aimee Hall (24), Nilsa Prowant (23), Codi Butts (25), and Kortni Gilson (21).
Even before the first episode aired, the show was stirring controversy. The Flora-Bama Lounge, Package and Oyster Bar near Pensacola says it was initially approached by MTV in 2013 about the idea, and for permission to use the name, which Flora-Bama refused to grant. That is likely the reason for the slightly-different “Floribama” spelling of the new show.
Flora-Bama, which regularly hosts live music and is a well-known tourist destination, released a statement, saying “We’ve recently learned that MTV and Viacom are using our name and reputation to promote their latest ‘reality’ series, after approaching us in 2013 about the same. We’ve asked them to stop. They’ve refused.”
Since MTV approached Flora-Bama preliminarily, it seems they knew about the name and wanted to piggy back off of it, so playing ignorant will probably not be a winning strategy if the matter ends up in court. Party Down South also ran into local trouble when production wanted to set up shop in Pensacola for Season 2. Hotel spokesman Julian MacQueen told USA Today. “All you have to do is watch a trailer of the reality show and realize it will undo everything we’ve been trying to put together. It sure puts a stereotype out there, and it’s the lowest form of entertainment.”
Eventually the production of Party Down South was forced to move to Athens, Georgia, and the show was eventually canceled after 5 seasons. An additional franchise Party Down South 2 was also launched, and canceled after two seasons. The shows were meant to be the new flagship franchise for CMT, who was moving away from scripted shows and music videos at the time.
Floribama Shore isn’t just another battle for those looking to push back against negative Southern stereotypes, it’s also an old idea being rehashed in a new location. Hopefully its life span remains limited.
November 27, 2017 @ 7:48 pm
I bet FGL will be sitting the dvr for this show! (Plus to name a few, Dustin Lynch, Brantley Gilbert, Cole Swindell, Kip Moore, Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett)
November 28, 2017 @ 7:17 am
Kip Moore has been touring with Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen. That puts him in a whole different category than the rest on the list.
November 28, 2017 @ 8:30 am
I find it hard to believe that Kip would be into something so trashy. But Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, and Walker Hayes will be all over it.
November 28, 2017 @ 9:07 am
Kip Moore is a bigger assclown than any of the aforementioned.
November 28, 2017 @ 9:32 am
Yeah….no.
Kip Moore has a history of talking a good game and then not backing it up with anything he actually puts out, but he is definitely a lesser evil than Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, or Walker Hayes. I’m not a big Kip Moore fan, but at least he can stumble upon a good song every now and then. That’s more than you can say for the other 3.
November 28, 2017 @ 11:30 am
To me, the biggest crime Kip Moore’s music commits is the fact that it just isn’t country. It’s great heartland rock music, but it’s not country. Kip is a far lesser evil than those other assclowns, because at least he tries to make good music.
November 27, 2017 @ 8:29 pm
Everyone involved with this show is a terrible human being and will never be a productive member of society. Likewise, the people who will watch this show are terrible human beings who will never be productive members of society.
November 28, 2017 @ 12:15 pm
I’d hump that brunette.
November 28, 2017 @ 1:26 pm
Before he became a social pariah, Louis CK had a great stand-up bit about girls like that. It’s worth checking out, especially since the people that he describes pretty much inhabit everything about this show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrnXIhC2J5c
November 30, 2017 @ 6:21 am
I reckon you’d be about number 200. Hope you have good health insurance.
November 30, 2017 @ 10:10 am
I’ve got Obamacare so you’ll pick up the tab.
December 4, 2017 @ 10:20 pm
Those are some seriously good looking legs. The attraction to the opposite sex is what sustains the human race. Its a fact. Deal with it…
November 27, 2017 @ 9:05 pm
What a mess……….
November 27, 2017 @ 9:38 pm
The rumors of the demise of the Bro-Country (or whatever the hell it’s called these days) craze are apparently, to quote Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated.
November 27, 2017 @ 9:41 pm
Disgusting.
November 27, 2017 @ 11:13 pm
I’m sure Sam Hunt will make a cameo. He looks exactly like the rest of the male cast members.
December 2, 2017 @ 8:43 pm
Spoiler alert: he won’t.
But there will be fights
November 27, 2017 @ 11:57 pm
I’m gonna go throw up now.
November 28, 2017 @ 12:59 am
Oh man…. Trigger, I hate to be here to post on this vile, repugnant, ass crack of a show but isn’t this bag of puke idea something that will, in any way,
November 28, 2017 @ 1:00 am
(part 2) work against the perception about country music? It shouldn’t but I fear it could.
November 28, 2017 @ 1:17 am
How come music TV channels don’t actually play music any more? I was flicking through the music section the other day and it was all Kardashians and stuff like this. The home-grown ones in my country also pad out their air time with repeat showings of panel games and comedy shows from other channels rather than play music too. It’s like they are allergic to music. How did we get to this?
November 28, 2017 @ 2:36 am
I’m an American living abroad, and when I click on the video, I get a message saying, “The uploader has not made this video available in your country.”
I have no idea who the uploader is, but I have a feeling I owe him or her a debt of gratitude.
November 28, 2017 @ 4:24 am
Being born and raised in Tally, it’ll be obvious that no one will end up calling this show FlorY-bama Shore but instead use the legendary Flora-bama name when referring to it and drag the entire scene down with it. Not saying it’s the most reputable place, but they should have their day and their say on how they prefer to protect any reputation they have instead of being portrayed to the national public that the whole area is classless.
November 28, 2017 @ 5:02 am
“our shared humanity”
November 28, 2017 @ 6:15 am
It’ll probably be more entertaining than a Sturgill Simpson concert.
November 28, 2017 @ 5:20 pm
We get it, he screwed your wife. Now please shut up.
November 28, 2017 @ 5:21 pm
Got Florida-Georgia Line waiting for you on line 1
November 28, 2017 @ 5:36 pm
I think Honky’s the issue is more of a deeply repressed man-crush. It has reached a new level now that he is randomly integrating Sturgill into comment sections that have nothing to do with Sturgill, let alone music.
November 29, 2017 @ 6:06 am
I’ve noticed that the bigger homophobes tend to reference someone being gay whenever they insult someone or pull out some line that someone is choking on some cock and/or balls. Gayness and male genitalia seems to be on their minds an awful lot. I think we’re seeing the same thing with Honky. There’s something deep inside he’s trying to repress. (I actually like Honkys posts for entertainment and this comment is meant to be more sarcastic. I figured that would be lost on some).
November 30, 2017 @ 8:04 am
No, I don’t think so. I think he considers himself the genuine article and so many of the rest of us are just hipsters and dilettantes. And I’m guessing it burns his ass that a site called Saving Country Music and so many of its readers give so much attention to someone he doesn’t think too much of. And so I think he feels entitled to make these obviously trolling comments.
November 29, 2017 @ 11:11 pm
Honky, don’t you have a Mo Pitney concert to get to? I tell ya…Boy & a Girl Thing really gets my outlaw vibe rollin!
November 28, 2017 @ 6:44 am
I’ve met a hell of a lot of people in my life, who are shocked that we actually wear shoes and have most (if not all) of our teeth. This shit ain’t helping. Fuck you.
November 28, 2017 @ 8:49 am
I’m not so sure that this reflects badly on the South as such, rather more Western Civilisation in general. This kind of show is the same wherever it is filmed. There are localized versions of this “shore” nonsense and other copycat shows in many countries. Spain, France, Poland, UK, Australia, etc. So don’t feel so bad, half the world has cause to feel ashamed of itself, the South isn’t being singled out.
November 28, 2017 @ 8:54 am
Oh please, MTV is the worthless channel largely responsible for ruining popular music in the first place, by placing all emphasis on the pyrotechnics of the music video and the image instead of the music.
This kind of crap from them is expected
November 28, 2017 @ 9:15 am
I can only imagine this thing ….never seen it . But hey what do we expect from a Kardashian Kulture ?
Mindless exploitation has never been more popular with the masses ….
” Vulgarians At The Gate “….is .a somewhat prophetic book written by the late comedian /musician/ talk show host Steve Allen just before his death approx 20 years ago……He NAILED this stuff .
More important than ever for kids ( and ADULTS who still behave like kids ) to avoid being swept up in a society that’s lost its moral compass …..
And I’ll stop there ….although we all know it doesn’t …..
November 28, 2017 @ 11:03 am
There are a few more levels to descend… Wouldn’t it be great if Lemonjello Ball pounded away at one of the Kardashian Koven? Then in a couple of years, we could be enjoying a show where Lamar Ball and Kris Kardashian join their depositories of refuse in the ultimate combination of mendacity, stupidity, vanity, greed, and baseness. Rob Kardashian, Lavar Odom, and Lemonjello Ball could lay down some phat beats and Caitlyn Jenner would be the moral compass and husky voice of reason. Caitlyn Jenner wearing a #MAGA hat and Lamar Ball wearing a BLM shirt could beat the snot out of each other on the clay courts of the Mulholland Tennis Club. The possibilities are endless.
November 28, 2017 @ 9:40 am
The producers of this show? Yeah, fuck them!! AND the horse they rode in on!!!!
November 28, 2017 @ 10:16 am
Faux Hawks….Faux Hawks Everywhere!
November 28, 2017 @ 12:10 pm
I know you run out of shit to write sometimes but how about a review of the western Netflix show “LONGMIRE” (6th season) or another new western on Netflix called “GODLESS?”
Did you even write a review of HBO western/Sci-fi serious “WESTWORLD?”
Just a few ideas.
I recommend you subscribe to Cowboys & Indians magazine to stay in the loop of all things western in the media.
November 28, 2017 @ 12:34 pm
I’m watching ‘Godless’ currently. I’m through the first three episodes and so far I would highly recommend it if you like westerns. Episode 3 was unbelievably well done. The Roy/Truckee scenes were amazing.
November 28, 2017 @ 2:08 pm
Speaking as a born and raised Yankee, if you told me that these folks were representative of southern life, i’d order a double of whatever you’re drinking, then take your keys
November 28, 2017 @ 2:16 pm
I grew up in South Georgia, about an hour south of Macon. There is none of my culture represented in this show.
November 28, 2017 @ 4:34 pm
Southern culture is one of the few acceptable targets left.
And I say that as a Yankee.
November 28, 2017 @ 8:15 pm
People still actually like to watch this trash? Guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Bro-Country is (unfortunately) still around, too.
November 29, 2017 @ 7:28 am
You would be better off bitching about the Real Housewives of Atlanta.
December 5, 2017 @ 9:34 am
As someone who grew up in nearby Gulf Shores, AL this depresses the hell out of me.
July 12, 2018 @ 2:16 pm
This article is 100% garbage. It make no sense ,employes no logic or reasoning. It seems the author just has an axe to grind. I don’t think the series shows any negative southern stereotypes. Instead, it simply shows typical 20-somethings. This would happen anywhere in the country (save maybe Utah or religious Amish communities in Pennsylvania). As far as the name is concerned, an argument would have to be made that MTV was profiting from people who confuse the show with the bar that I promise you no one watching the show, aside from a maybe a handful of locals, have ever even heard of. MTV has lots of lawyers. The chance of the bar ever winning some sort of lawsuit against MTV is nonexistent.
Please consider another hobby. Writing and reasoning don’t appear to be your forte.