- Jenks, the star of his documentary.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in someone else’s shoes? Experience things that you may never have the opportunity to, or obstacles you may never have to face? Andrew Jenks, a filmmaker for MTV, wanted to do just that. Jenks created the hit documentary TV show called “World Of Jenks” which follows people all around the same age but who have completely different lives.
In Season One, Jenks found a new person every week and lived with them. Week after week, he lived with a college football player, a homeless girl, and then a cheerleader. Jenks said, “I wanted to find three people my age that had stories that wouldn’t normally get exposure on national television, much less MTV, where you can really reach millions of young people. And so I was looking for young people who had real substance.” However, after the end of the season, he found himself wanting to understand their lives in more depth than one episode would allow. So, for Season Two, Jenks documented three peoples’ lives for one year to truly experience the full complexities of their unique identities. Jenks lives with Chad an autistic 20 year old, Kaylin a fashion designer battling cancer and D-Real – a struggling dancer trying to make Oakland a better place. The new format of the show has made the show slow and not as interesting. Since there is only three characters that we see all season it tends to get boring because their problems seem to be the same all the time.
Chad is a twenty year old boy who is going through things most people cannot understand. Chad has autism with really bad anxitey and it is all out of his control . Chad is someone people automatically love for he is funny and outgoing. Chad goes through these phases of bad anxiety, and no matter how much he tries to calm down he cannot control it. For most people going to prom in a limo would be very exciting and fun, but Chad could not handle the limo. He just wanted to get to the prom and was having an anxiety attack. Chad is the most interesting character and the only one who is not boring or at times, annoying.
Jenks also follows a 27 year old fashion designer and a graphic novelist who is battling cancer. Kaylin has reoccurring bone cancer known as Ewigs Sarcoma. She fights through terrible pain everyday, and all she wants to do is become a successful fashion designer. Every month Kaylin has to go back to the doctor to check if the cancer has come back; in the meantime, Kaylin never stops worrying because her cancer is reocurring and comes back quickly. Viewers see what it’s like to battle cancer and still work and do what they love. She learns how to deal with her disease and doesn’t let it affect who she is as a person and her work. Kaylin is strong and truly is an inspiration to everyone. Even though viewers feel sympathetic for Kaylin, her scenes can at times be either boring or depressing in comparison to the quirkiness of Chad.
Similar to Kaylin, the last person Jenks follows is an interesting person with a troubled past who fails to measure up to Chad. D-Real is a struggling dancer who is working his hardest to make Oakland a safer place to live. D-Real is a talented dancer whose videos on YouTube have reached 1 million views. D-Real and his dance crew teach dance classes at the local community center to keep kids off the street. Growing up on the streets, being in jail and watching some of his closest friends die, he feels that it is his responsibility to repair Oakland’s reputation. D-Real has moments of passionate intensity that truly engages the audience in a unique way; however, his scenes outside of the dance class — where he does charity work and volunteering — lack that intensity.
World of Jenks hits 1.2 million viewers in Season One. The new format of the show lacks the variety of voyeurism of the old one. Rather than finding out the rich details of one unique person each week, by focusing on three people for the entire, the show gets really monotonous. If this sustained focus on three individuals is interesting, tune in Mondays at 11pm on MTV to watch each of these characters continue their journey. If not, cross your fingers that Jenks returns to the old format for Season Three.
