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The Boston Herald
February 22, 2003
TELEVISION REVIEW; A-mega Greek drama; MTV's sorority, fraternity kids spew
double dose of theatrics
By AMY AMATANGELO
"Sorority Life II."
Series premiere Wednesday at 10 p.m. on MTV.
Three stars (out of four)
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"Fraternity Life."
Series premiere Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.
Three stars
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While other networks scramble to exploit the reality genre, MTV once again
finds histrionics by ferreting out people who naturally create an
inordinate amount of drama in their everyday lives.
"Sorority Life II" and "Fraternity Life," premiering Wednesday at 10 p.m.
and 10:30 p.m., follow the pledge classes of the Delta Xi Omega sorority
and the Sigma Chi Omega fraternity at the University of Buffalo. (A preview
special, "Meet the Greeks," airs today at 1 p.m.) The rush process expels
people and silently implies that they weren't good enough. Combine that
with the secrecy inherent in the Greek system, the sheer ridiculousness of
forging friendships over candlelight ceremonies and hazing, some clever
editing and you've got yourself a show - two shows. Also a plus - putting
the pledges up in posh "Real World"-like houses. They live better than
their already pledged brothers and sisters.
"A lot of my friends think sorority girls are stuck up, slutty or just
plain stupid," one of the potential pledges says. And by watching the
survival-of-the-fittest selection process, those friends are not that far
off. The sorority hierarchy relishes the opportunity to critique a
hopeful's outfit (showing up in shorts is such a no-no), attitude ("This is
my sorority and if you want to be a part of it, you have to impress me,"
sister Janel says), or motivation (don't let the word get out that you are
there because you want to be on TV).
The first "Sorority Life" followed the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi pledges in
Davis, Calif. The girls fought, talked trash about one another and drank
themselves into oblivion on a daily basis. The real standout was Jordan,
who at 21 already had the weary demeanor of a 45-year-old divorcee. The DXO
pledge poised to carry on Jordan's legacy is Julia, who is already in a
snit because she doesn't win the election for pledge vice president.
Amazingly, the men of "Fraternity Life" are equally interesting. Sure,
there are stereotypical differences. The girls play a friendly game of
softball for one of their socials. The boys? Well, they go to Hooters. The
girls dress up pretty and live in a quaint sorority house. The boys live
"in absolute filth" surrounded by trash and dirty dishes. The girls are
threatened by beautiful pledge Brooke and can't figure out why she wants to
be part of their sorority. The boys are threatened by pretty-boy Grant, who
has the misfortune of hitting on a brother's ex-girlfriend. The girls say
things such as, "Every single one of these girls is going to be at my
wedding." The boys ask questions like, "Did you just get laid?"
But give the guys credit because they rise to the challenge of melodrama.
Fraternity pledge Alex has a girlfriend who desperately doesn't want him to
rush. Like Niles' biddy ex-wife on NBC's "Frasier," Lindsay is a
not-yet-seen villain. The cameras only capture the desperate pleas of a
clearly lovesick boy. He's so sick about having to choose between his
girlfriend and his brothers that the poor kid throws up. Needless to say, I
can't wait to meet Lindsay.
And just think of the crossover episodes! Long live the Greek system.
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Okay, I'm glad that there is a good positive (non-flaming) discusion for once...and I hope I don't start one here, but just thought that I would add this article that I ran across and post it. I guess after reading all the posts I have a few questions for everyone.....here goes:
1. If nobody thinks that anything is wrong with sorority life (or fraternity life) and think that they are wonderful programs...then why aren't they participating in the next season?
2. Why did all NPC, NIC, and NPHC HQ's ban their chapters from participating if this is such a fabulous experience that gives us such great publicity...why aren't your chapters signing up?
3. Have you ever noticed the that all the groups picked so far all have similar sounding names as National Organizations? Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi (Sigma Alpha Epsilon or Alpha Epsilon Pi); Delta Xi Omega they use DZO (DZ....hmm...sound familar?); Sigma Chi Omega (Sigma Chi or Chi Omega).....curious....curious...
4. I do agree that the SAEPi women were not the stereotypical looking women in an organization....but did you notice how women who didn't fit that mold were treated? Or what if they did fit that skinny blonde mold...how was Jordan treated? Candace? The women were still trying to fill a mold.....it just wasn't the one that is normally related to sorority life.
5. If nothing is wrong with fraternity or sorority life on MTV then why don't we use them as a recruitment tool? We can get copies of the programs and mail them out to all incoming first year students, show them at our freshmen orientation, and mail them to the parent's of entering students. I'm sure that would have them lined up at the door?
6. Someone mentioned that the programs are good publicity and might help in recruitment.....really? What type of person are the programs going to bring into our chapters if they develop their idea of greek life from these programs? How long will it take for our chapter to deterriorate into shells of the great organizations that they once where.......then will we be praising the great ads and publicity? Will it be funny then?
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Thanks for listening........o.p.i.e.
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