etshannon Essex people have no fear. We, in America, generally have enough sense to know what is and isn't real. Hopefully, you do as well, ie: I have never in my life met anyone like the people portrayed on the Jerry Springer Show. Just saying... I do find this show entertaining, though, because you get those jaw-dropping moments when you could not be more utterly flabbergasted at comments like, "I think the queen lives in Buckingham, doesn't she? :-0 I'm not evening British, and I know that Buckingham is the name of her Palace in London, not a region. (Although I admittedly lived in London for 3.5 years, and was there when Diana died/was killed...) "The Only Way Is Essex" is like the twin-sister of one of our reality shows called, "Real Housewives of Orange County"; same plastification, same lack of "edumacation", and same mundane existences = oh so entertaining as background noise while I'm working on my online business.Ta and cheerio...

steettrick I'll keep this short and sweet - Don't put yourself through the utter mental torture of watching this crap. Apparently, this is REALITY TV? It's ridiculously bad. You can literally feel your brain cells dying as you watch it. This fits into the same category as Geordie Shore, The Valleys, The Hills, Jersey Shore etc. Just utter rubbish TV. A gang of plastic actors, who've got about as much personality as a drawing pin, yet are paid God knows how much to appear on these shows and make a complete fool of themselves. TV seems to be dying out, and programmes like this are the exact reason why. I've got a really bad feeling that more of these "shows" are gonna appear on our screens very soon too. God help us all.

burfordthehalfabee I'm here to defend this programme. I consider myself to be a somewhat intellectual and thus by all reasoning should detest this programme. But I still watch it every week and every week it makes me laugh. I never try and feel for the characters or become particularly involved in their story lines, but it's a great programme for 'people watching'. If you take into account the fact that they all must have some idea of what they're doing and they are definitely aware the cameras are there, you notice that all of them react in different ways. And despite that, it's also good if you enjoy watching fairly stupid people do and say fairly stupid things. If you are looking for an award winning fly on the wall documentary then i advise you to... well, just give up and definitely don't watch this. If you're looking for something light hearted which has the potential to pull in a lot of viewers depending on how you watch it, then TOWIE is for you.

rachel-ob I think that the introduction "pre warning" voiced by Denise is a very clever way of setting the scene for the entire programme. Highlighting the stereotypes of "Essex" in a tongue in cheek manner, and the fact that some of the scenes are set up for entertainment purposes is a way of enlightening the audience of what they're about to experience. The shine going over the text as it is voiced hints that there will be a lot of glamour and "vajazzleing". The music throughout the title sequence is fun and light hearted, the lyrics "the only way is up" can be understood as a reflection of the characters lives. The opening images are quick cut and fast paced, another reflection of how the programme will be. Please note - I am not stating here that the entire population of Essex is represented by the characters, just my own understanding through the people I've met and know.